


Falling Bullets

by XtaticPearl



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Maria Hill, BAMF Steve Rogers, BAMF Tony Stark, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Remembers, Bucky Barnes Returns, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Creepy Brock Rumlow, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, M/M, Nick Fury Knows All, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark Friendship, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Protective Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson Friendship, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-23 11:45:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6115453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XtaticPearl/pseuds/XtaticPearl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remember how Pierce wanted Iron Man to make a visit to his niece's birthday party? Well, Nick Fury made sure Tony Stark got that message and some more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've always wondered how Tony didn't get involved in CATWS. So, I decided to get him involved here :P  
> Again no smut here. Nothing graphic, at least. It's going to be another long journey of self-discovery, grey decisions, friendship, definitions of loyalty, honesty and a truck load of Avengers feels.

Tony got the call through his emergency server. 

One moment he was contemplating sleep after 38 hours of working on Rhodey's upgrades for the War Machine and the next moment, before his eyes could convince his brain to shut down, JARVIS was cutting in sharply.

"Sir, code Giggles" the British voice announced and Tony blinked at his schematic before his brain supplied the meaning of the code. It was a stroke of ironic humor from a past drunken moment but it did its job. He didn't call her that to her face but Giggles was her code. He patched the call through.

"Hey, Ladybug, what's up?" he asked casually, even though he was quickly trying to check every place where there was a catastrophe brewing around the country. Maria Hill never called until the world was ending. Sometimes, literally.

"I need you to come to DC," the Agent's lethal voice came through, lower than usual and a slightest hint of shiver in the tone that those who hadn't known her would have missed, "Immediately."

Tony frowned at that, not at the DC part but at her choice of words. It was always  _"You need to.."_ or " _Do this Stark."_ . Never had he ever heard the Deputy Director start a sentence with "I need you to". Not to him at the very least. He wasn't used to her asking him anything. It was freaky and he cursed the lack of arc reactor in his body to make sense of the sudden speeding up of his heartbeat.

"What's wrong, Agent?" he asked, wanting to know how big the disaster was.

"It's Nick" Maria replied and with just two words she managed to explain the enormity of the situation. Tony was already halfway through getting the suit ready when she explained further, "SHIELD's compromised. Stark, we're in-"

"Destroy the phone," Tony spoke over her, knowing that if she was using the emergency line then somebody was definitely hunting her. His lines were  _always_ secure and JARVIS would hold off any traces but Tony could track her location without any more conversation and getting her to destroy the connection would only make her feel annoyed. "Look out for some flash soon, RoboCop. Work your magic till the master lands. Stark out."

"Copy" the word was unimpressed but Tony already knew that he could never impress Maria, believe him, he had tried a lot many times. But she was part of Nick's trust group and right now, without his 'distractions' to ease his boredom and Pepper at some Japanese conference, he was frankly glad to get out and kick some ass. He hoped there was some ass-kicking needed and that she hadn't just called to get him to hack some SHIELD thing, because honestly, that would just be plain insulting. He could do that from the Tower itself and he would think that Hill knew his genius brain that much. 

"JARVIS," Tony called out when the call line ended and he was assembling the suit around him, "patch Pepper through if she calls and monitor the kids here. No slacking off work, especially Dummy. And get me the location of our favorite pirate, will you? Let's see what new portal of shit has opened up with Fury. Bring up the DC news about Cap and Romanoff too."

When the HUD came on, Tony stared at a red message blinking on the screen before breaking into laughter.

"Hey, J? Are my eyes deceiving me or is that Nick's message about a fucking _birthday party_?" he asked as he took off, trusting JARVIS to speed up as required.

"It would seem so, sir," the AI answered wryly, monitoring the speed of the suit as Tony flew across the clear night sky, "I believe Captain Rogers is currently at the his tribute exhibition. Agent Romanoff is at the Triskelion and Director Fury's tracker seems out of function."

"Well, he IS the sneaky one," Tony murmured to himself, "Let's hope they don't start the fun without us."

As he flew towards DC and brought up the last SHIELD data he could find his hand on. The flight picked up higher speed when Tony caught a data about Hydra in SHIELD. If his calculations were anywhere right, the government was going to face the biggest disaster since the Great Depression and it would only be worse. Because it seemed like the strongest security detail of the US and possibly the world, was somehow linked to largest terrorist organization of the world.

"Fucking Fury," Tony gritted as he focused on getting to DC as fast as he could. Pepper could rail at him all she wanted about distractions and danger, but he also knew that if Nick Fury was worried enough to call  **him**  with a Dark Shadow protocol and was possibly going to land in a hospital, a little distraction was what they needed after all. 

\-----------------------

When Tony landed, he hated that his intuition was right. A fucking hospital, he thought bitterly, every fucking time. He knew that Hill was already here, having tracked her position through enough to know. Coming out of his suit, he took a moment to get his bearings. Flying across cities was fun when you didn't have your brain exploding with too much information and anger at a one-eyed pirate for being a sneaky bastard.

Nick Fury and Tony had the strangest relationship since the beginning. The grouchy asshole had first found Tony in his Tower, sneaking into his home past the highest of security. That alone had gained Tony's attention, because it was  _his_ security and Fury didn't look like someone who was doing it as part of a frat challenge. Of course, when the Agent had talked about some super secret costume clad team, Tony had lost interest immediately. He hated the idea of forming color-matched cliques and doing back to back poses. It was all so 90s, he had though with an eye-roll, offering Nick some scotch and letting him go his way.

The second time they'd met, Nick had literally saved his life. Well, technically he had teased him the solution to his palladium problem, but hey, Tony knew the language of assholes enough to know when he was being helped. Also, the whole Howard being SHIELD's founder bit and a brief moment of nostalgia wasn't all that bad too. Tony had liked poking Nick's side after that. He liked porcupines better than rabbits, sue him.

Then the whole Loki adventure made him annoyed with Nick. Low-key annoyed, pun intended, but he knew the man well enough to understand that he meant business. It was also the first time he wanted to hit Fury with a repulsor blast because seriously? Captain America was a stuck-up whiny old guy in a flawless body and Nick was giving Tony shit about his vanity? Anyway, they managed to get things done and Tony got into a portal that was still giving him unwanted nightmares. And Pepper finally moved in with him but that had ended splendidly a few weeks back thanks to a spectacular fire-breathing show from the aimless AIM. It still hurt, not having Pepper beside him at home, but Tony was holding on to the friendship right now. Glass half full and such. 

In a nutshell, Nick Fury was pretty much an important person in Tony's life. And he was in a hospital because of some jackass who apparently presumed that the Avengers wouldn't avenge the guy who brought them together.

As Tony got out of the elevator and walked into the room where he knew he could see Nick's surgery being done, he paused a moment at the entrance. He could see three people, three varying statures of rigid strength standing there. A shifting but steady Maria Hill, her form calm but tired, eyes fixed on the doctors working on an unconscious Fury. Next to her stood the shorter but no less stronger Natasha Romanoff. The woman who would rather kill than let her emotions show. Tony could hear her murmured prayer and curses. He hated that she was on the verge of breaking, hated that she was demanding Nick to not fall away on her. He knew the toll such raw emotions took on a person who kept her reactions and feelings under about seven layers of carefully constructed walls. He knew what it was like to see one's family, one's only family fall, slip from your fingers. He had felt it during those moments when Pepper had fallen. He could calculate that Natasha would only feel that a hundred times more. Wrenching his eyes away from her his gaze landed on the last person, the only person who had seen the whole thing happen. The one person who seemed to look unaffected and cold. The one person Tony  _knew_ to be a volcano of anger underneath the facade. 

"Is he going to make it?" Natasha whispered to Hill, neither woman taking her eyes off the body across the glass window.

"He always does," Tony heard himself answering, nearly wincing when Hill and Romanoff whirled around, the brunette holding a gun up and the redhead's hand inching towards what was clearly a knife in her pocket.

"Fury's gonna be furious if I die before he gets to kill me," Tony drawled with a fake cheer that helped Hill frown and Romanoff's face relax, "and Romanoff, the guy's worse than Captain Jack. He's going to be barking orders about a new mission before you know it."

Tony sucked at comforting and honestly, he didn't think that Natasha needed comforting. But Pepper had taught him some manners over the last few years, at the very least telling him not to annoy assassins in a snit. Contrary to popular belief, he  _did_ listen to survival instincts. 

Which all went down the drain when he saw the doctors in the OR remove their gloves and announce the time of death. Tony had a few seconds to grasp it and think of a reaction when finally, Steve Rogers turned to leave the room.

Tony didn't know why he always met Rogers at the wrong times, but this was probably the worst of times. The soldier didn't acknowledge Tony and walked past him, but paused enough to whisper one sentence.

"Nobody ever makes it always"

Tony felt like drawing back and punching the guy on his mouth. He wanted to argue and rail at him for being a bloody pessimist. He remembered the cavalier manner in which Steve had reacted to Coulson's 'death' during Loki's invasion. He wanted to go inside the OR and kick the doctors till they tried again.

He did nothing. He simply stood, beyond the glass, watching as the man who had always challenged Tony, die on an operation table. Nick was dead. Nick Fury was out of his life.

Strangely, as he stood beside Natasha, staring at the still body on the table across the glass, he felt that avenging seemed to define his entire life now. Once he had fought a God to avenge his babysitter. Now he was going to avenge the bastard who had taken away his annoying porcupine. 

Nobody messed with the Avengers, Tony thought bitterly. He saw Natasha turn and walk out. He took a few moments himself, noting two other agents standing behind him, Sitwell and someone else. Finally, he took a breath and walked out himself.

Nick's last message rang in his head. A birthday party. Tony didn't have a clue about it but he also knew that Nick never called on him without reason.

He had to disappoint Pepper again after all. He had to work on another 'distraction' now.


	2. Chapter 2

Steve didn't react or know how to react after a death anymore. Maybe he was acclimated with loss by now. Maybe death was a long-term companion for him. Whatever the reason behind it, Steve knew that he would rather look towards the future than dwell over an unrecoverable loss.

Nick Fury was gone. He was dead and Steve couldn't bring him back.

But the pen drive, that was still in his hands. Whatever Nick had died protecting, whatever was important enough for someone to kill him, Steve could safeguard that. 

He saw Natasha come out of the room and gave her a look of understanding. He could see in her eyes that Nick meant more than just a leader to her. 

"You okay?" he asked her as he saw S.T.R.I.K.E operatives enter the hospital floor, catching Rumlow's eyes.

"As okay as okay can be," she answered, giving a bitter smile and glancing behind Steve, "Stark's here. Must mean something good?"

Steve shook his head lightly, thinking on the same thoughts.

"Don't know," he said, hooking his hands into the loopholes of his jeans, "I'm sure we'll find out soon. Him knowing about Nick's condition means that he was informed by Hill or Fury himself. Which gives us hope to believe at the moment."

Natasha nodded distractedly before shooting a small smile at Steve.

"We'd better wait and get Nick though now," she gestured towards the abandoned mortuary. Steve nodded in response but felt Rumlow closing in on him and shifted to the side to address him.

Before Brock could get a word out though, Steve felt another presence behind him and tilted his head to see Tony staring at the S.T.R.I.K.E soldier. Steve didn't know why Tony was here or what he was going to do now but he could at the very least introduce his colleague to his part-teammate.

"Brock, this is Tony Stark, as you'd know," Steve gestured towards the unflappable man before turning to Tony and gesturing towards Brock, "and Stark, this is Brock Rumlow. My teammate at S.T.R.I.K.E."

"We've met," Rumlow nodded with a slight smile and Steve raised an eyebrow at Tony who narrowed his eyes a twinge before grinning with a shrug.

"Maybe, I'm not sure," the genius quipped though he sent one of his fake media smiles Brock's ways before turning to Steve, "I meet too many people in odd situations. You know how it is. Good to meet you, Agent Rumlow. Cap, a word?" Steve frowned at Tony's request to talk but Brock cut in before Steve could reply.

"Sorry, Mr. Stark, Secretary Pierce's orders. We need Cap at the HQ ASAP" Rumlow didn't sound the least apologetic according to Tony but honestly nobody did when talking to him, so that was fine.

Tony took a quick guess and adopted a casual look, shrugging with ease.

"That's fine," he said before catching Steve's eye, "I just wanted some change for soda off the vending machine. Got only the big ones. Any change on you, Cap?"

Steve had the urge to narrow his eyes at that because he knew for a fact that Tony would never ask  _him_ for change or drink soda from a vending machine. He would rather make a beeline to the coffee machine, from Steve's experience. There was something Steve was missing here. Something that Tony was trying to get across, before Steve left for the Triskelion. 

He had the briefest moment of doubt about the pen drive. Was Tony hinting about it? About it's safety? But then he dismissed it. Tony had no clue about the pen drive. Not yet. But the idea about the safety of the pen drive was already in his mind now. And the vending machine was right there. He didn't know what Tony was trying to do but he had an idea of his own.

"Sure Stark," he acquiesced easily before digging into his pocket and bringing out the required change, "Let me get that soda for you. You got to hit these hospital machines the right way to get them out. You wouldn't know about it all that well."

Tony blinked at that and saw Rumlow shift nervously, looking back at his fellow agents. He didn't understand why Steve was being chivalrous all of a sudden but decided to go with the flow. Clearly Steve and himself weren't on the same wavelength here.  But whatever Steve was thinking, maybe it would have the same result?

He saw Steve walk towards the machine and Rumlow turn back to focus attention on Steve. It was a split second decision and Tony took it. Distractions were his specialty of course.

"You must be shattered," he spoke up, catching Brock's attention to himself, "Fury seemed to have his eye on a lot of people. Any idea on the snipers who took the shot?"

Rumlow seemed irritated by the chit-chat but Tony was charming enough to make the other person want to pick up any challenge.

"Whoever he was, he knew where the Director was," the Agent quipped, considering Tony with a long look, "Which means that he was following him a while. Must have been a hit mission."

"Or someone who got jealous of Nick's good looks. Or maybe his position?," Tony shot back with a smirk and saw the Agent raise an eyebrow archly.

"You're implying it's an inside job, Mr. Stark? Because that's a serious charge," Rumlow warned lightly and Tony congratulated himself for hitting a soft spot.

"Well, we  _are_ already in a hospital so we can't get any more serious," the genius observed with a slow rise of an eyebrow, putting on his best condescending expression, "And please Agent, my implying is never really one for the books. Fury would have told you that if he was here."

"But he isn't" Rumlow asserted quietly and Tony would have continued the banter if he hadn't felt a shadow loom over him, turning to see Steve standing with a soda can.

"Here you go , Stark," Steve offered the can to Tony with a pleasant enough smile that made Tony bite back a frown because Steve  _never_ smiled like that at him, until they had won some war or beaten some of Doom's cronies. He didn't let his surprise show though and airily took the proffered can with a nod at the Captain.

"Thanks, I owe you one," he said, raising the can in a silent salute and saw Rumlow gesture Steve to move on.

Steve turned to leave but not without leaving Tony with a final quip.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Tony waited till he saw the men in black lead Steve out of the floor to turn around. He was hardly surprised when he saw Natasha standing behind him, near the vending machine, looking at Tony with the glint of a challenge.

"You here to help?" she asked with a quiet assessing look that Tony was used to after all his interactions with her.

He simply gestured to the vending machine and smirked.

"Wanna see what Captain Not-So-Obvious tried to play treasure hunt with?" he asked as a response and saw Natasha roll her eyes.

To nobody's surprise, they found a pen drive, hidden behind a chips packet in the machine. Tony didn't look at Natasha, instead staring at the drive, knowing that the spy had the same question going on in her mind.

"Think this was worth him dying?" he asked casually and felt her tense up for a second before clenching the drive in her fist.

"It better be," she replied frostily before turning to face Tony, "And you better start explaining why you're here."

Tony raised an eyebrow at that but shrugged.

"You should ask Hill. In fact, I should ask her too," he quipped and nodded in the direction of the lab where they knew Maria would be, talking to the doctors.

Natasha observed Tony's face for any lies before giving him a short nod.

"Let's hope we have better luck that Steve at the Triskelion," she announced before leading the way to the lab.

Tony didn't say it out loud but muttered under his breath as he followed her.

"I think he'll need luck more than us, right now". He didn't know what it was about this whole thing, but something about the entire story of Nick being hit by a stray guy didn't seem plausible to him. To hit the master spy himself, there was bound to be a bigger spy involved. Somehow, SHIELD headquarters sounded like the perfect home for such a guy.

\------------------------

Seeing 'Nurse Kate' from his apartment, here at SHIELD, was something that was just another addition to the irritating lies Steve kept a record of in his mind right now. He remembered the awkward date proposal he had made minutes before he had found Nick and felt a small surge of annoyance at her, whoever she was. Natasha had tried matchmaking him with so many ladies here but Steve had wanted to go out with this woman and it turned out that he couldn't have even that semblance of normalcy in his life.

Not that there was anything normal about a 90+ year old guy wanting to date a woman clearly old enough to be his daughter. The whole imagery made his annoyance grow and Steve walked in clipped measures, barely greeting the Agent as she nodded at him with a polite "Captain".

"Neighbor" he muttered plainly, before reaching to meet Alexander Pierce who was observing both of them with an amused smile.

"Captain Rogers," Pierce greeted with a firm handshake, "I'm sorry about Nick."

"Me too, sir," Steve replied calmly, "He was a good man."

"He was a good friend," Pierce replied with a sad shake of his head, "An old friend of mine, to be honest."

Steve nodded his head as acknowledgement of that and entered the wide room behind the Secretary, watching the man take a moment to breathe and sort his thoughts before gesturing Steve to take a seat.

"Nick and I, we go a long time back," Pierce said with a small smile, "Right to the beginning I think. He's saved my ass a lot many times. Quite a daredevil, right from the start."

"He was excellent at his job, sir," Steve agreed, remembering the conviction displayed by Nick during all their mission plans, "Smart enough to get where he did."

"Not all that smart at times," Pierce laughed softly, looking at his hands for a moment, "Got into a lot of trouble with the WSC a lot many times. Got into trouble because of me too, unfortunately. I owe him some, for my life. Once, when I got trapped in a mission, he was ordered to stay away and let things take its course."

"He decided to shift ways" Steve guessed.

"He did more than shift ways," Pierce corrected, looking at Steve, "he drove in an entire tank, like Rambo on fire, and risked everything to get us out. We almost lost that mission because of him."

"But you didn't lose your life," Steve concluded with a slight smile.

"Yes, and I owed that to him," Pierce nodded before looking Steve right in his eye, "Which is why I need to know what happened at your apartment, Captain. Why was Nick there? What was so big that somebody targeted him at your house?"

Steve didn't speak for a few minutes, thinking back to the specific instruction from a dying Nick.  _Don't trust anyone_. Didn't 'anyone' include Alexander Pierce too? However close they were or whatever affection the Secretary held for the deceased, Steve had a specific request from Nick. It was the only thing he could hold on to till he got any further clarity on the situation.

"I don't know, sir" Steve answered calmly, letting his face hold an equal amount of confusion and frustration, "I had just entered the apartment myself and he said he need a place to stay the night. Before anything else happened, the shootout started."

Pierce regarded Steve coolly for a minute. Steve had seen this look from many Colonels, Commanders and Fury himself. It was an assessment of truth. He simply stared back at Pierce till the older man let out a sigh and cocked his head.

"Are you sure about that, Captain?" the Secretary asked one final time and Steve didn't hesitate this time.

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry but I don't have any other idea." he answered, his mind already on the pen drive he had hidden in the hospital vending machine. 

Pierce didn't have anything else to add and gave Steve a small smile with a nod.

"Alright then, Captain," he said as he stood up, prompting Steve to follow suit, "Let's hope that we nab the shooter soon."

"We will, sir," Steve promised, more to himself and turned to leave.

Right when he was getting out the door, he heard Pierce call out with one final parting shot.

"Captain? Give Mr. Stark my regards," he said politely and Steve almost froze but nodded and left.

He didn't see or hear Pierce call a number and issue an order to end the 'rogue agent'.

\--------------------------

"He's going to strangle you," Tony informed casually, sipping on his coffee and looking at Natasha's boots, "He is going to slowly and painfully strangle out every breath in you."

"You'll be there to stop him right?" Natasha countered sweetly, calmly reading through the reports of post-mortem.

Tony snorted and almost spilled his coffee.

"Yeah, right. I stop you and I'll get a shot of some new drug in some organ of my body. I stop him and I'll be the one he'll be strangling. No thanks, I'd rather you two kill each other," Tony replied with a nod of his head and a smirk at the quick look from Natasha, "Anyway, I'm not here to play peacekeeper for SHIELD. Clearly, I'm here as the brain and not the brawn. Something I could help with if we could just look at the drive you're clearly hiding in between your...assets."

Natasha raised an eyebrow at the not-so-subtle word but shrugged. "If you're the brain, then we're going to need more of it," she retorted quietly, ignoring Tony's eye-roll, "Because you clearly don't have enough brains to  _not challenge_ a terrorist on national media. How'd that go for you anyway?"

"No more reactor, no more shrapnel, no more beautiful Malibu house and no more girlfriend," Tony shrugged vaguely, "Kind of balancing. I did get to fight a fire-breathing guy, so hey, good adventure!"

"I liked the Malibu house," Natasha quipped with a thoughtful look that made Tony snort, "It was a pretty house. Nice view, nice hangout for after-parties and parties. Kind of a retirement home special."

"Nice avoidance of the Pepper topic," Tony commented, sipping the last part of his coffee, "And I can always get the view simulated at Manhattan. Also, retirement for me? Yeah, that's happening. I might just finally die when that happens."

"Here's hoping," Natasha observed quietly and Tony shrugged as a reply. He knew the strange base he had with Natasha. They had always skirted around the topic of being friends and were both allergic to trying it with each other. They were either too similar in their world-views or too dissimilar in their humanity. Tony didn't care much. They got their jobs done when needed and he knew that she was friends with Maria Hill, which quite honestly brought down chances of them ever being friends. So snarky teammates/weird mind-readers it was. Definitely better than the whole yo-yo style relationship he shared with the Captain. That one, that one always took the cake. They were either bitter rivals or ending each other's sentences. It was a see-saw and Tony hated that game, ever since childhood.

"So what's the deal with Rogers?" Tony asked, trying to keep the conversation going and noticed Natasha shoot him a bland stare, "What? Just making small talk. We clearly are not going anywhere with any progress, so why not bitch about the guy who isn't here?"

"Because if I start having chit-chats with you, I might just bleach my brain," Natasha declared calmly.

"Too naughty for you?" Tony waggled his eyebrows and saw Natasha snort.

"Too boring for me," she replied plainly and ignored Tony's huff, "Same old topics with you. Booze, babes and bombs. Too repetitive."

Before Tony could cut in with a wise-ass remark, Maria Hill entered the room and called him. 

"Stark, a minute alone," she asked, rather informed, before exiting the room. Tony looked at Natasha who simply shrugged. Sighing to himself about mysterious ladies with their mysterious Devil's horns, he stood up and sauntered outside, to meet Hill.

"What do you know about Alexander Pierce?" Maria asked as soon as they were alone in the morgue, which hey, should probably be the best place for secrets. Taking things to the grave and all, you know?

Tony raised an eyebrow at the question before thinking a bit.

"He's..the Secretary, right?" he asked with a frown, trying to recall any matter he had on the guy, "Might have met him once regarding Project Insight. Don't know him much though, I was more in contact with Fury. Why? Is he messing up the eulogy?"

Hill's jaw ticked at his humor but she was immune enough by now and continued impassively.

"Nick's last message, apart from whatever Steve and I got, was to you," she said curtly, "It was a message about Alexander Pierce's niece's birthday. Nick seems to have asked you to 'visit and mingle as Iron Man'. Now, it might be casual and have nothing to do with whatever happened..."

"But it could also be a hint at whatever Nick was attempting to protect," Tony completed the sentence, his mind already running over the SHIELD files he'd need to hack to get information about this Pierce character, "I'll start on it. And Hill?"

Maria paused before leaving, a raised eyebrow as the only question on her face.

"Make sure you get his patch," Tony commented noting the woman's eyes grow cold, "He won't look the same without it."

It was a good thing that Maria Hill had, grudgingly but well enough, learnt to catch Tony's hidden meanings of concern behind his asshole remarks. She understood what he meant but didn't like his words. Nevertheless, she nodded and went on her way, leaving Tony to find a place where he could put JARVIS to use.

He had some dirt to dig up on his latest birthday party client.

\---------------------------

Steve knew, the minute he saw the first S.T.R.I.K.E agent get in, that this thing was going to go down fast and dirty. It was an instinct he had picked up from before a century. The prickling between his shoulder blades, the sense of clarity in his ears, the sharpness of his pupil - it all came automatically to him now. He didn't need to wait for the tenth agent to enter to know that he was going to be attacked. Seeing Rumlow in the elevator just made him add another lie to his ever-growing list. It didn't even surprise him anymore, except for a brief moment of pricking sensation.

"Gentlemen," he announced politely to the new audience in the glass elevator, " anyone wants to get out alive, now's your chance."

When the morons simply turned towards him and the first guy raised his hand, Steve sighed about the stupidity of bad guys and began defending himself. 

It didn't turn out to be easy though and that only fueled his anger. Steve jerked back at the second shock from Brock's weapon and pushed at the asshole harder, even as he threw an elbow at the guy behind him. When only Steve and Rumlow remained, he gritted his teeth and swung his shield, missing the double-agent's head by just a second's reflex.

"You're not escaping this time, Cap" Rumlow warned with a creepy grin, "Sorry, nothing personal."

"Yeah? Good to know." Steve bit out before bashing the man's head against the side of the elevator. It was only then that he noticed the elevator going down at a speed faster than normal. He looked around and almost groaned to himself. There was only one way out and he really didn't want to tear any more clothes. 

As the shield crashed the glass open and Steve jumped out from the rushing elevator, he was furious enough to strangle Natasha if she tried to hide whatever she clearly must know regarding the pen drive. Steve really hated lies and his list was not showing any chance of stopping.

The added issue of Tony being here was not helping the list either, he thought viciously as he jumped on his bike and rushed towards the hospital.

\--------------------

Tony could see the tense lines on Steve's shoulders as they stood in the morgue, Natasha stroking Nick's cold forehead with forced back tears. Ever since the Catain had returned from his 'meeting' at the SHIELD HQ, he had attempted to look calm and collected. But Tony wasn't a fool at body language. He had adopted masks and disguises of every posture, many times and to many people, enough to identify a faker when he saw one. And Steve Rogers was clearly faking things at the moment. 

Tony didn't doubt Steve's sincerity or regret at losing Nick. He didn't think it was possible for the old guy to have that cold a heart, in fact he was sure of it. But clearly there was something off. Something related to Natasha, if Steve's nano-glares at the redhead were anything to go by.

It was this observation that came handy when Tony followed Steve and Natasha silently outside and saw the Captain slam her into a wall, holding her in place and snarling into her face.

"Where's the drive, Romanoff?" Steve asked furiously, applying enough pressure to stop Natasha from squirming, "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing Nick didn't want you to know, Steve," Natasha explained calmly, completely ignoring Tony, who was ready to intervene if things got really out of hand. Steve Rogers might be strong but even he wouldn't stand Tony's repulsor beams at this distance.

"Still playing the double-side?" Steve grunted, "You know why Nick was there. You know who the assassin is. That's why you guessed about the Soviet rifle. You know the metal-armed man."

Tony frowned at that but brushed it aside to concentrate on Natasha's answer.

"He's a ghost. They call him the Winter Soldier. A missing name for the past fifty years or so," the redhead answered softly, "I had the unpleasant chance of meeting him once, in Siberia. It was a pick-up and drop mission. A clean and clear one. It took him thirty seconds to get us all down. Shot the safeguarded guy through me, a shot right in my abdomen. Clean through, long-distance. Scar's still not healed. One screwed up mission and bye bye bikinis."

"Yeah, well I'm sure you care enough about your bikini style," Steve snarked back and Tony raised an eyebrow, deciding to cut in now.

"Sorry to disappoint, Rogers, but some of us  _do_   _not_ have super healing capabilities and yes, scars do matter," Tony quipped with faux-righteousness, successfully grabbing Steve's attention from Natasha, "Maybe we'll all not be Harry Potters but hey, Romanoff could be the new Chosen One too, if her scar is special enough."

"And you," Steve whirled around, letting Natasha go and locking striking blue eyes with Tony's own cautious brown ones, "What are you doing here? You aren't supposed to be here. Who called you? Nick? Hill? Or was it Pierce? What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Okay, first of all, Mr. Holier-Than-Thou," Tony pointed with a bitter smirk, getting annoyed with all the hostile reaction he was getting for just being there, "I don't even know Pierce. Why does everybody keep assuming that I do? Nick knew him, Nick knew me. Nick was the link. If anybody has the answers about Pierce, it should be Nick. Seeing that he's dead, sorry, got no answers for you. Secondly, you don't get to tell me where I am supposed to be. This isn't an Avengers mission and you're not leading as far as I can tell. You screwed up in protecting Nick and you're pissed. That's sad, bad, whatever. Deal with it. I'm here because Hill called me on the orders from Nick. You got problems with that, I don't care. But don't try to pull your weight around me. You want to do something, get your head out of your ass and help us crack whatever shit that drive has. If not, go be caveman somewhere else."

Steve was fuming by now, glaring at Tony who didn't back down an inch, staring right back with defiance. Anger was good. Anger would keep Steve from falling apart or doing something stupid like go charging into the SHIELF HQ, all guns blazing. That was a fascinating idea for Tony, but right now, they needed Steve to back off from being the righteous son and be the tactician he was. And if that came with anger directed at Tony, then it wasn't the worst idea the genius had entertained.

The moments between the Steve-Tony staring match stretched for more than a few moments till finally, Steve broke contact and dragged in a deep breath. He didn't look at Tony when he spoke next, regarding Natasha with a calmer and more controlled stare.

"We need to crack the drive," he said firmly, "We need to get to a safe base for that."

Natasha nodded and chanced a look at Tony who simply shrugged.

"Alright," she decided, "let's get going."

As the trio left the hospital, Tony was slightly surprised when he felt Steve's hand stop his arm, as Natasha walked forward.

"The next time you decide to insult me when I'm angry, wear the goddamned suit," Steve warned a tad too coldly, "Because the next time, I'll have the shield at ready."

Tony blinked before reacting but Steve was gone by then, striding purposefully towards the car.

"Oh, I'll wear the suit alright," Tony muttered to himself furiously, walking forward to join the duo who were piling into the car.

It was going to be a long mission for everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and review please :D I wanted to establish the environment and tension before we got into some hardcore interactions. Steve and Tony are absolutely at logger-heads right now and this might only escalate with any further arguments. But they have a common link, Nick Fury. Let's see how far they go before things get out of control ;) Oh and please wait for the grand entrance of the Winter Soldier in the next chapter ;) <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me star off by apologizing. Bucky hasn't entered yet. Yes, yes, I know. I want him here too. But he's coming soon, that's all I can say. I'm trying to stick to canon as much as I can but at some point I'm going to start diverting. I hope you guys don't get disappointed :D

"Is there any chance, I mean any chance at all," Tony casually wondered into his comm as he watched the two specimens move, "that you could teach Captain Stifflips to relax and I don't know, walk instead of running, Romanoff?"

On his screen, Tony saw Steve stiffen up more before Natasha hissed at him to loosen up and muttered something about the first rule of espionage. Tony rolled his eyes and smirked when Rogers shot back about the shoes not being capable of running even if he wanted to. 

They had decided, even as they had begun to leave the hospital that Tony was the most recognizable among the three. Him trying to go undercover was bound to gather some if not a lot of attention. Also, Natasha was pretty firm about not letting Tony and Steve take the drive between themselves. They had agreed to split up, resulting in Natasha and Steve going to a mall to try and throw off attention while also decoding the drive contents. Tony was assigned to keep an eye on SHIELD and try to keep Pierce off their back. It was an arrangement Tony  **hated** with everything in his body, because he  _knew_ that he was the best person to break into any technical data. Sure, he knew that Natasha was well versed in decryption and sneaking but that didn't negate that Tony was the best. If Steve's minute hesitation in agreement was taken into consideration, even he thought so, though the guy would rather drown than admit it out aloud. 

Tony did take control of the mall security cameras though and was currently watching the duo 'geeks' strolling towards their destination. He found that it was far more amusing than it should have been, to see Steve Rogers try to act 'cool' and 'normal'. 

"JARVIS," he spoke into his phone's AI as he watched them enter the technology bay, where they were supposed to use a laptop, "any data on the mysterious Winter guy?" He had quietly been trying to track down the guy Natasha had mentioned too. It was disconcerting to find that the only files with a name Winter Soldier were ghost files. They were closed and mentioned in passing only. The mention of the name in Howard's death report had only spurred Tony on more.

"Not quite, sir," the AI replied, tone inflicting a slight hint of disappointment, "Do you wish to look elsewhere?"

Tony thought for a minute, watching as Natasha and Steve found their laptop and Natasha muttered about SHIELD tracking them in nine minutes from the minute they plugged in the drive.

"J, try your luck with the old files," Tony muttered, mind running to a time where Nick had hinted that Howard had been one of the founders of SHIELD, "Try a time during Cap's era."

The AI answered in agreement and went back to work, leaving Tony's focus on his two teammates.

"The drive is controlled by an AI that'll reboot and divert every time I try to open the files," Natasha said as she fiddled with the drive.

"You think you can work around that?" Steve asked and Tony cut in to reply before Natasha could.

"You can always try to trace the root of the files, get the origin of the drive," he explained, knowing that the spy would catch on.

Apparently, she had been thinking on the same lines, going by her eye-roll.

"I can get the location of the source, yes," she agreed and plugged in the device to the laptop, "Stark, think you can keep SHIELD off our back till we get what we need?"

Tony scoffed at the ridiculously simple request like it was an insult to him.

"Just work on the location, Trinity," the genius grunted and saw a small quirk on Natasha's lips before he worked on scrambling the SHIELD database just enough to delay their response to the guaranteed tracker on the drive. 

"Is there something I can help you two with?"

Tony's head snapped up and he saw a shaggy haired guy approach Steve and Natasha, presumably to chat up on spy. He was about to warn them about letting things out when he saw Natasha take over and cover things up sweetly. He almost choked on laughter when Steve, 'the fiance', suggested New Jersey as a honeymoon destination. He had to bite down a laugh when the new guy, Aaron? Advil? whatever his name, called Steve a 'specimen' admiringly before he walked away.

"Alright, you love birds," he called out when he understood that the location was Jersey and he spotted Rumlow and team closing in on the mall, "Time to make your exit now. Romanoff, get flirty and lemme see some action."

Clearly, Steve needed to work on his trust regarding Tony because he was tensing up and talking about 'engaging' the S.T.R.I.K.E agents when he caught sight of them. Thankfully, Natasha was as devious as Tony and shut down Steve with curt instructions to act couple-y with her. When Tony saw her pull down Steve's head for a kiss, he didn't bother to keep his smooching sounds to himself, going further to croon  _Touch-a Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me_ till they broke apart. 

Steve looked like he had survived an atom bomb. Natasha looked smug. Tony was too busy chortling inside the van he was hiding in.

"Soooo" he drawled when the duo finally came out of the mall and met him in the parking, waggling his eyebrows at Natasha, "Good?"

"Not rusty," she replied vaguely and Tony winked at Steve, clearly letting the guy presume that they were talking about the kiss and not the mission.

Steve, to his credit, simply went forward to rob them a car. Tony had a feeling that by the end of the mission, he would have a terribly long list of things to jibe Steve about in the future.

\------------------------

New Jersey was an old sore for Steve Rogers. It was his birth place of sorts. The place he had been trained in. The place he had met Peggy at. The place where he had been chosen to become Captain America.

"I don't like this," Tony said as soon as they entered the abandoned Army base, "This place is way too much like an underground fight club and everybody knows that you shouldn't talk about the fight club."

Steve didn't respond to the usual rambling from the genius, but he agreed on one point. He didn't like the place as well. There were too many things right and too many things that felt wrong.

The moment they saw Howard and Peggy picture, he had felt Tony freeze up beside him. He had felt frozen too, but it was more because of Peggy than Howard. It was one moment he felt related to Tony, knowing what it felt like to see the past almost push you down. They didn't comfort or share the grief though, both men knowing the futility of empty words. The dead were always lost. Till they weren't.

"This place is ancient," Natasha remarked when they entered the secret chamber, which Tony was continuously cribbing about. 

"More like pre-historic," Tony commented, sharing a look with Steve, "Looks like the tech of five decades back or so."

"Let's find out what it means," Natasha quipped when she found a USB port device shining on top of a table and plugged in the drive, "Shall we play a game?"

Tony was about to reply in another pop-culture reference to mess with Steve but the blond surprised him with a small smile, "I know that one. I watched it."

The genius was suitably impressed even as Natasha looked a teensy bit disappointed but shrugged before reading the new command on one screen.

"Initiation request? Yes?"

Steve was simply staring around at the monitors but Tony had a bad intuition about tech he didn't understand or like. The whole room looked like a secret base and for them to find a USB port readily in the midst of ancient equipment? It didn't sit right. Just as Natasha began typing 'yes', Tony's phone beeped and he saw a notification from Hill.

"Guys, I've gotta get a reading decoded," Tony muttered to the other two, catching Steve's raised eyebrow, "You guys start watching whatever movie springs up, I'll be back in a second. But hey, Cap? Don't go poking into things you can't fix, alright old man? Or wait till I tell you what's a bad idea." Steve narrowed his eyes at the flippant instruction but gave a minuscule nod and Tony chanced a glance at Natasha who had just typed 'Y-E' and was looking at him. He nodded at her with trepidation and left the room to get a hold on the reading he was getting from Hill's tracker. It was an additional heat recognition and something about it wasn't sitting right with Tony.

The Captain watched Tony leave the room before turning towards Natasha who was completing her 'Y-E-S'. When the 'movie', as Tony put it, started Steve thought that he was watching a horrible nightmare come true. The green pixelated mask on the screen and the voice sent his mind into the shock that even crashing into the ocean hadn't managed.

Steve hated it when dead people didn't stay dead. Admittedly, that was a bit ironic coming from him, but he had never claimed to be fair to evil, only promising to fight it. The creepy voice of a computerized Zola ranted on and on about some master plan of Hydra. Hydra, Steve thought faintly, God, the one thing he thought he wouldn't have to deal with in this century! When Zola showed them a preview of the damage Hydra had inflicted from within SHIELD, Steve heard Natasha gasp and try to deny it. The bit about Project Insight made both of them tense up.

Of course, that was when Natasha's phone beeped incessantly about an incoming attack. From SHIELD. Steve saw the door shutting seconds before it did but his shield couldn't stop it.

"Come on, get in, get in!" he yelled at Natasha as he opened a grate from the floor and gestured to the hole below.

"Stark!" Natasha yelled back, jumping in before Steve, crouching under the shield, "Steve, Stark doesn't know!"

Steve had two seconds to feel horrified about it before the ground shook and the building over them shattered under the force of a missile. He could hear Natasha's short yelp of pain as her head hit a rock beside her and he himself held his breath against the landslide of rubble falling onto them. But the thought of Tony getting caught unawares was helping him stay alive, fight the bout of panic. They had to get out of here and get to Tony. They had to find out where the genius was. The image of Nick falling to the floor under a torrent of shots flashed before Steve's eyes. But he didn't let himself imagine Tony going down that way. Tony Stark wasn't helpless at any point of time. Steve had to trust.

They didn't know how long they were stuck down or when the attack ended. When Steve felt the rubble above him lift a bit, he stirred and fumbled to push up. Somebody was pulling the concrete off him and Steve pushed against it some more, trying to help whoever it was. The first hint of light showed him that Natasha was unconscious, either due to lack of air, panic or a concussion. He scooped her up in his arms and grappled out of the hole, squinting his eyes to see who was helping them.

To find the Iron Man suit staring at them.

The faceplate went up and Steve caught sight of Tony's eyes, hard and unrelenting, looking a Natasha for a brief second before coming back to meet Steve's eyes.

"Hydra's alive" Steve said as means of greeting, "It has infiltrated SHIELD."

"Fury's alive" Tony replied, clearly not flabbergasted by Steve's news, "He's recuperating in some warehouse right now."

Both men looked at each other, trying to digest the latest storm entering their lives. Tony broke first, shrugging delicately in his suit.

"Hey, one of us had good news," the genius offered and Steve felt hysterical enough to almost giggle, "But we should probably keep celebrations limited till we get to a place where people aren't gunning for us."

"I know a guy," Steve coughed against the dust settling and Tony blasted a clearing for them to climb out of the destruction, "We could try his place."

"SHIELD?" Tony asked as he briskly led them out, checking on his HUD for any further threats.

"Ex-Air Force, Paratrooper," Steve answered and saw Tony pause for a second before marching on, "Sam's a good man."

Tony led them to a clearing and turned to face Steve, his gaze calculative but calm.

"If you trust him, then fine," he said before snorting at Steve's stunned look, "Hey, it's your life, your choices. Also, I'll get Rhodey to check on him later, so it's not a problem with me. But listen, I can't come with you guys right now."

"We can't split up, not now," Steve shook his head vehemently, his protective instincts in full flair.

"I'm not high-tailing to Kingdom Come, Rogers, calm down," Tony frowned before shaking his head and letting his voice go calmer, "Look, it's clear that you two and I don't need to work together to do everything. If we split up now, we might be able to get a lot more done. I've got some intel on Pierce I want to check. Project Insight, the one I'm sure you'd have known by now, I might be able to crack my way around it. Also, whoever has a hit with your name, either isn't against me or hasn't noticed me yet. I'm going to take advantage of that. You two should go and regroup with your paratrooper, form a plan to get to the Hydra guys you're gonna fight soon. That way, we'll get more done faster."

"And what if one of us needs the other?" Steve countered, shifting Natasha to hold her more easily, "What if we need to communicate or help each other?"

Tony sighed and shook his head for a second before breathing in and nodding.

"Fine, how about this," he started, clearly getting impatient but holding on to his last strands, "If you get into trouble, you tell Natasha to use her emergency code. She has one, she knows about it. Nobody but me will be able to intercept it. If I get into trouble, I'll blast my way through it-"

Steve glared at that but Tony raised a hand and continued.

"-but if I can't, I'll contact you. I can't tell you how, I don't know what I'll use, but I will contact you," Tony stared at Steve, willing him to take his words at face value, "I need you to trust me on this one here, Cap. This one time, I just need you to trust me."

Steve's eyes roamed over Tony's face, grim and hesitating before he stared back at the brown eyes that were challenging yet confident. He remembered the last time he had distrusted Tony and been proven wrong when the genius had managed to get through in the nick of time. Tony was not a soldier, not a follower. Steve had understood it by now. But he was a fighter. He would never back down. And that gave Steve the confidence to agree.

"I trust you," he replied quietly and saw shock flicker in Tony's eyes before it was replaced by agreement.

"Good," Tony nodded before pulling down his faceplate, "Now get going, Goldilocks. Time's a runnin'."

Steve simply watched Tony fly away and sighed to himself, walking towards a place he could set Natasha down and awaken her. He just hoped that Sam WIlson was the right guy to trust right now.

If the past was meddling with his present, Steve could only hope that the present would be smart enough to dodge the future catastrophe. If everything else failed, he could always remember that he didn't go down alone this time.

With Sam's address in mind, Steve placed Natasha down and began to wake her up. They had a mission to complete.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? I know that this one concentrated more on the action and less on Steve/Tony, but the plot has to move forward too sometimes. Feedback, as always, will be loved <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Let me begin by saying that I am truly overwhelmed by the interest in this story. I really am. Thank you for it :D  
> Most importantly though, I thought I should address the characterization of Steve Rogers. Yes, he isn't the biggest cheerleader to Tony and Tony isn't his best guy either. But that doesn't make either of them bad or stupid or anything mean. They're just their own personalities and the Winter Soldier is probably only going to bring in a whole new mountain to cross for them. But that's the challenge, isn't it? To know how such characters, on opposite ends of a spectrum, even think about getting together? In all honesty, MCU gave us a bout of bickering and then tried to pull off a 'friendship' between these characters. I don't think anybody digested that well. Which is why I'm going slow, letting them be themselves. I hope I get things right and you guys like it :D

Sam Wilson was not slow in anything in his life. He liked speed. He liked the rush in his ears when he flew. He liked the adrenaline push when he outran his own record. He was a man made for fighting.

He just didn't know what _this_ was called yet.

"Shit!" he yelled when the steering wheel was yanked out of the car and Natasha unerringly aimed for a metal hand that was throwing it away from the car top.

"The ghost?" Steve gritted, holding on to the speeding car's door handle, holding Natasha secure in his lap as well.

"The Winter Soldier" Natasha hissed in response, fiercely dumping her bullets into thin air, even as the guy in black jumped off their car and landed on a jeep behind them.

Sam thought that they had gotten a lead when the sniveling Sitwell had blurted about the hellicarriers. That was a good time, he thought bitterly as the car swerved and he grasped thin air, trying to stay upright. Getting the Falcon wings from the Facility had been a Seventh Heaven moment for him personally. Sure, he would have liked some good old wall-scaling and Mission Impossible shit, but getting an inside support from Colonel Rhodes had helped save time. Sam didn't even know  _how_ Colonel James Rhodes knew they were at the Facility. Steve had just taken one look at Natasha and shook his head with a sighed "Tony". 

If they ever got out of this new madness, Sam was going to get himself a damn flowchart for every new person he was meeting.

"Hold on!" Steve ordered seconds before he grabbed Sam and clutched Natasha, successfully unhinging his side of the door to fall onto the road. Sam was never more thankful for knowing Captain America when the shield carried them through safely across a long stretch of gravel. It would have been a good time for a breather but, of course, that was when they had to see the Guy. The Winter Soldier.

Clad in all black, like death himself, a gas mask on his face and hair down till his jaw. Sam didn't know why the guy looked as terrifying as he did, but there was something, some air about him that sent out an inhumane chill down their bodies. Sam saw him raise his gun just in time to get behind a car and hide.

Steve, on the other hand, didn't have that luck. He got up his shield mere seconds before the missile hit him and launched him off the bridge, onto a bus. 

Which left only Natasha fighting. The Russian hated it when she had to pick up after the boys but this wasn't them slacking. She knew the Winter Soldier's work. She had a scar to prove it. That thought pushed her harder and faster, rolling between cars and dropping recorded messages to fool him into thinking her presence. Natasha wasn't a novice. She knew to play dirty and smart. When she jumped off the bridge and shot his eye-mask, she mentally added a score. 

That went down the drain when the bullet caught her chest and she dropped. One more bullet and she would have been a gone case.

Steve saw that and rushed in with his shield. The Winter Soldier was quick to the bone and trained in every fighting style Steve tried. Between ducking his knife attacks and trying to jam the shield into his metal arm, Steve managed to find one moment of luck. He pulled the guy over his soldier and threw him across, successfully getting the mask off.

It was like a mask had been removed from his life. A curtain had risen. A whirlwind had paused.

For days, months and probably decades, Steve had dreamed about seeing this face again. Meeting those pale eyes that had always held his trust. Seeing the man who had been there for him when he had nothing. The man he had been unable to save. His best friend. His brother. His Bucky.

"Bucky?" he tried the name on his lips after years, his voice a gust of wonderment. He didn't know if it was the best dream or the worst nightmare. Bucky was right there but his eyes held no recognition, nothing that said that he saw Steve.

"Who the hell is Bucky?" the voice was Bucky's but the words were of a stranger. Steve had seconds, probably more, to understand that before he saw the man raise the gun to shoot him just as Sam flew in and pushed Steve aside.

Natasha saw Steve freeze in front of the Winter Soldier and was about to yell when Sam interceded and saved the Captain. But she saw the Soviet assassin raise his gun once again and picked up the missile launcher near her. Struggling to stand, she managed to get her aim right and blasted off the man, saving Steve once again.

Steve could feel everybody running and fighting around him, could see Natasha staggering back into the floor with the weight of the simple launcher, could see the vans and cars pile in. He saw the S.T.R.I.K.E team pour out, Rumlow cock a gun on his head and tell another guy to stand down till they were somewhere private. He could see Sam and Natasha getting arrested, could feel the handcuffs on his own wrists. But he couldn't react, couldn't think past a simple question and a face.

_Who the hell is Bucky?_

\--------------------------------

Maria Hill knew many definitions of trouble. She had grown up with most, had trained under the worst and dined with the best of them every week. Trouble was a tag she used for most of the men she worked with. 

For Tony Stark, she thought the word was minimal. It was almost an insult to the trouble he brought with him whenever he came.

"Sir," she tried once again with a fatigued Fury, who was still hooked on to a couple of IVs, "Did we really need to send Stark to do this? You know I could have done it easier."

Nick Fury was one of the extremely few men she respected in her workplace. She respected his eye for trusting the right people, which was ironic currently, but she would take what she had. She agreed with his assessment about Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff. They would get the job done, she knew that. But Tony Stark? Maria wasn't his biggest fan, even if she did admit that he had the best tech in the country. He was a genius, there was no doubt about it in her mind, but he was also an arrogant, know-it-all who would rather jump into the fray and destroy the entire place than strategize and play nice with a team/rules. Rules she could discount, but strategy and sticking to the plan was important to her. She knew Tony's flair for improvisation and dramatics.

"Hill, the man might be a firecracker but he isn't a burnt out rocket," Fury replied calmly, checking the time, "If he has a challenge, he'll do whatever it takes to get it done. You can not like him but we can't ignore the fact that he is better suited to this job than either one of us. The hellicarriers are his area. If he can't crack this, then we can damn sure start evacuating people."

Hill threw that around in her head for a while before nodding and leaving for her own mission. She had some fugitives to break out.

\---------------

Tony didn't know what he was doing anymore.

He had the new chips ready, coded to negate the Project Insight codes. He had traced out Hydra files from SHIELD and had gotten an access spot for one of them, to go in place of a delegate as part of the WSC group Pierce was going to entertain today. He had made sure to notify JARVIS to dig out every Hydra mole in SHIELD, in DC and elsewhere. 

He was practically set. He had done his part of the job well. He knew that he could finish the job himself but he also knew something else that was kind of rattling him a bit.

The Winter Soldier. The man with a metal arm. The ghost. James Bucky Barnes.

Tony shook himself, focusing on getting to the warehouse in one piece without getting noticed. He had gotten Natasha's emergency code 5 minutes ago. A minute after that he had gotten Hill's message to get to the warehouse. Apparently Nick was going to have some grand Mummy Returns moment. Tony had been trying to break Zola's algorithm when he had received the message. He didn't want to go back. He didn't want to see any of them right now. He was getting antsy and frustrated with this mission. 

James fucking Barnes, he thought viciously as he maneuvered the hot-wired Chev Impala through another alley. It was like waking up to a hurricane looming over your head. Sergeant Barnes. Bucky Barnes. The best friend. The soldier. The man with a fucking exhibit to his name. The Winter Soldier.

When Tony had accessed Barnes' files from Zola's 'brain', which in all honesty was more fun than he had thought because watching the program yell German obscenities had been cathartic, when he had those files open and spread clear in front of him, Tony had almost lost it. There was no way, no fucking way that Steve Rogers would fight this guy. Leave fighting him, Steve would probably even stop the others from stopping Barnes. No way that Steve would ever even attempt to stop Barnes, assassin or not. Tony had read and watched enough work about the pair to know their epic friendship bracelet style bonding. Not to mention, he knew from Howard's 'pep-talks' and from unpleasant memories, that losing Barnes had been one of the reasons Captain America crashed the plane into the ocean without much grief. They were the ultimate swashbuckling duo, probably destined to ride on matching bikes, sporting matching patriotic smirks. 

Tony had absolutely no doubt that Steve even trying to take on the Winter Soldier was a recipe for disaster. He just didn't know whom the disaster was going to be for. He knew for certain that the Captain would slip into his sacrificial hero pants and either refuse to fight Barnes or jump after the guy into some hole. It was all going to be very melodramatic, he could predict that right now.

It was no longer a rescue mission. It was going to become a revival mission. And Tony hated those, because somehow, some way he always ended on the bad side of such things. Probably because he usually didn't melt into a puddle every time somebody said something sweet or probably because he was a damaged asshole who would rather see the threat than the veiled past. Pepper had been an exception, with her Extremis gene. But Pepper hadn't been a mind-controlled assassin who was batting for Hydra. Even as he justified things to himself, he knew that he sounded stupid. But Tony was always stupid when it came to matters concerning superheroes or supervillains. 

Consider the whole New York battle for example. He was just not suitable to handle all that painful backstory or glory. He would rather they all behaved normally and beat up the guys with the bad guns. 

But life didn't work like that when you join Nick Fury's secret boy band.

Making a sharp right, he found the entry to the warehouse and cast a glance at the briefcase beside him. Tony hated not knowing things and right now, he didn't know how they were going to handle saving the world and stopping an assassin who may or may not be a good guy even now. It was the stuff of sagas he avoided like plague. And he was driving into one voluntarily right now.

Pepper had been right. He had a penchant for masochism. 

When he walked into the dark and grim basement, he paused, taking in the people already present. An injured Natasha was being patched up by the doctor, a ruffled Rogers was having a mini-showdown with Nick, a shuffling new guy, Sam his mind supplied, was watching the two men silently. And Hill was staring right at him. He tried for a casual wave and saw her eyes harden. Giggles wasn't happy apparently.

"Sorry I'm late," he announced as he traipsed in, waving the briefcase at Fury with a smirk, "had some actual work to do, you know, instead of playing chicken to SHIELD and it's new-old buddy Hydra. Hey Romanoff, good call with the EMP. Too bad about the ruined top though." Tony knew he was rambling, of course he was rambling, but he would rather ramble than let up on the horribly large secret he had stumbled upon. Which he would if he saw Rogers right now. And hey look, Rogers was staring at him. 

"You know, I had heard about the rambling, but didn't believe it till now," Sam spoke up with an amused smile, walking forward to offer a handshake, "Pretty interesting to have as a habit, must beat pacing or foot tapping. Sam Wilson, ex-paratrooper and current Falcon. Nice to finally meet you, brother."

Tony blinked at that, noting that Sam hadn't used the patronizing address of 'genius' or 'legend', before grinning and clasping the hand for a shake.

"Falcon, huh?" he asked critically, raising an eyebrow, "So you  _did_ take the wing-pack from the Facility. Great, that's great. How's it treating you? All good? Smooth flight? Rhodey said you had one of the highest scores during training."

"Second highest," Sam replied with a nod, smile turning more genuine at the veiled compliment, "Carol Danvers beat me by a couple. It's great and pretty damn cool but looking at your other designs, I'm sure you'll have some upgrades that could make it more."

"Beaten by a woman and smart enough to admit it. You're good," Tony nodded, remembering Danvers from Rhodey's old talks about some mission, "We'll see about those upgrades some day."

"If you're done stalling, Stark," Fury took over with a pointed look at the genius, "We were just talking about the helicarriers and stopping Project Insight."

Tony rolled his eyes but nodded, walking over to place the briefcase on the table. He was pointedly avoiding Steve and was glad that the guy was lost enough to not notice it yet.

Of course, when Nick explained about the chips and stopping SHIELD, the topic did come up.

"Stopping them? No, Nick. No more stopping," Steve put his foot down firmly, "There's no more salvaging, no more rebuilding. It's all going down. SHIELD, Hydra, everything is in a tangle here. We're bringing it all down."

"SHIELD is not the bad guy here, Rogers," Nick countered, looking at the Captain calmly.

"It's just inches away from becoming it, Nick," Steve retorted, eyes finding Tony's over Nick's head, "We can't keep any more secrets. The world needs to know about it all. SHIELD is no longer capable of being trusted. It has to go."

"We can't just give away everything like that, Captain," Nick shook his head with slightly narrowed eyes, "The world needs certain secrets for its own protection."

"Like what? How many more compartments, Nick?" Steve shot back, making Tony clear his throat, "Is this going to be another secret like the Winter Soldier? How many more Buckys and Pierces are we going to have before we realize that hiding things don't solve things?"

Tony's head shot up at Bucky's name. So Steve knew, he thought to himself grimly. Steve's eyes met his and he must have seen something because his eyes widened for a second before resuming his stare at Nick.

Tony agreed with Steve about the fall of SHIELD. But as everybody voiced their agreement and Nick submitted to Steve's decision, he had a vague sense of doom grounding in his gut. If they were going to bring SHIELD down, they would invariably have to get through Bucky Barnes a.k.a Winter Soldier. 

Tony didn't know if Steve understood that as well as he did. He also didn't know if Captain America would be strong enough to withstand the blow from the past. For the sake of the team and by extension everybody who would side with them, Tony could only hope that things didn't end as disastrously as he was imagining.

As he watched Steve walk to the bridge with a solemn expression and found Sam following him, he hoped that he wouldn't end on the bad side of things today. Prepping his suit and checking Natasha's disguise, he steeled himself for a ticking time-bomb that was bound to explode.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is the only thing I'll ask <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this chapter will be where the canonical references of CATWS will end and the new parts will start. I have always, always wished for a gradual and thoughtful growth in the dynamics of all these characters. MCU just makes me want to fill so many damn holes sometimes. It's all very complex. I hope I get to work well here :D

It was a death wish from the start. All their missions were suicidal but this one was going to take the noose. Maybe because it was personal. Maybe because it was against their own. Maybe this is why doctors weren't recommended to work on their family. Because that was what SHIELD had been to him. A family.

Nick Fury wasn't extreme on emotions. He was a realist. But he had given SHIELD more than half of his life. His entire life. If there was any definition for the word family in his dictionary, it would bear SHIELD. And now he had to tear it down. Because it was a rotten apple and he had let it rot for too long.

"Attention SHIELD," he heard Steve announce to the entire staff over the speakers, "This is Steven Rogers speaking..."

The speech was everything he had expected from Steve. It was honest, inspiring, earnest and trustworthy. It was the speech of a leader. 

"Okay, now can we just go and plug in the chips or is anyone else going to go all Mark Anthony?" Tony asked into the comm, his voice sounding tired and annoyed, making Nick roll his eye, "C'mon Cap, more beating less emo. Chop chop!"

"Ten minutes guys," Hill's voice chipped in, clearly ignoring Tony but sounding professional, "Iron Man, Falcon, get your helicarriers."

 Tony replied a 'Sir yes sir' at that dramatically, garnering a snort of laughter from Sam, before he flew from the terrace and saw Wilson take off from behind some cargo carriers. He could identify Steve's blue suit running between shipment crates and missile barracks, dodging the fire from SHIELD agents. Tony spotted his own bogeys seconds later, maneuvering drones and deploying flares swiftly, keeping his target hellicarrier in sight. He had better experience with flying and dodging missiles than Wilson apparently, because he reached his carrier first, though maybe blasting that missiles crate was a tad too much. He didn't care though, landing gracefully on the carrier and retracting the chip from his armour to replace in the Project case.

"Hey, Cap!" he heard Wilson call out, voice tense but trying to sound confident, "Found your old pal here! And he's got a package I don't like."

"Guys, five minutes," Hill reminded curtly, "Iron Man, status?"

"Completed," Tony replied before flying out of the carrier and spotting Falcon maneuvering his way into his carrier, "Cap, you anywhere close yet?"

"I'm on it" Steve replied, gritting through his teeth as he jumped from one roof to another, "Falcon, status."

"Completed," Sam breathed out, emerging from his hellicarrier and flying down to where he spotted a black costume clad man strutting towards Steve's helicarrier.

Tony was about to follow him and engage when he received a distress call from Fury.

"Kind of busy here, buttercup," Tony sing-songed tightly but was cut off by Natasha's voice.

"Stark, we've got a situation in the Infirmary," the ex-spy snapped calmly, "Six S.T.R.I.K.E, armed and holding hostages."

"Gatecrashing the party right away," Tony replied quickly, locating the situation and speeding up to the infirmary, sparing one look at Steve who was now jumping on to his helicarrier.

Sam saw the flash of red zoom above him just as he landed on the roof to kick the Winter Soldier from firing a missile at Steve. When the pissed off assassin turned to face him, Sam wondered just how much Steve actually believed in his theory of finding Bucky Barnes behind this mask of a man.

\-------------

The Asset was annoyed by the flying man. He was not the Asset's mission. The Asset did not know him or care about him. But the flying man was bothering the Asset's mission plan, every time the Asset was close to completing the mission. 

He did not like that. Did not like obstacles at all.

The shorter man had wings, which the Asset thought were the main reason for this interference. Without the wings, the man would be nothing. Without the wings, the man would stop coming between the Asset and his mission. He crunched his metal arm in decision.

The flying man had to be stopped. He had to lose his wings. Or lose his life. The Asset did not care which one happened faster.

He waited till the flying man made a move, like the Asset knew he would because impatient men always made mistakes, and right when the man tried to land a punch, he went for a sharp kick to the middle and caught the right wing in his metal hand.

The smooth tear of the wing sounded like music and the Asset watched for s few seconds as the man went flying backwards before falling in style, probably to his death. The Asset knew about that - death. Knew it like the palm of his skin hand. But hadn't felt it, or didn't remember it even if had felt it.

The Asset wondered if death was as good as remembering. He didn't get that often, memory. Maybe death would be a memory that he could carry even after a mission.

He didn't know. He didn't have to know that. It wasn't his job, to think. Eyes snapping up, he spotted the blue uniform, his mission, clambering into the helicarrier.

Death would have to wait, the Asset thought idly, before taking the leap to finish his mission.

\---------------

Sam pulled at his chute and almost yelled in frustration when it turned out to be a bad chute. He was angry, not afraid. He was angry that he would have to die because of a stupid failed chute. He was bigger than a failed chute. He was a fucking paratrooper. He deserved to die fighting flying aliens or something equally interesting. A parachute was NOT going to become the cause of his death, Sam Wilson decided and warned God.

Maybe God was as cool as Sam and understood the ridiculousness of death by parachute. Or maybe Tony Stark had intercepted Sam's warning to the guy upstairs. Whatever the case, between one second of cursing and the other waiting to see him splat on concrete, Sam was caught by the hand and looked to see the red suit pulling him up. 

"Found something to upgrade!" Sam yelled at Tony, even as the guy flew down to safety, "The fucking parachute! Make it work the next time!"

"Yeah, sorry Maleficent," the dull voice through Iron Man's filters came through, though Sam knew that there was some amusement in that tone, "Next time, baby."

"Stark, 3 minutes to go,"Hill's voice came through in a tight tone, "Cap's comm isn't working. Barnes is on the carrier too. Get the job done!"

Sam must have heard it too because Tony looked at the man who grimaced but simply waved a hand as a green signal.

"Stark," Sam suggested calmly even as Tony started to fly out, "Go easy on him."

Tony didn't need to ask who the 'him' was. He simply gave the man a small two finger salute before charging up to the only remaining helicarrier. Which was currently moving fast towards the Potomac.

For once in his life, Tony wished he knew something called tact or passiveness. Because he knew that getting the job done without screwing things up this time was really not going to be an option for him.

It wasn't Tony's product unless he had screwed up in something. He just hoped that Rogers would be smart enough to understand the reasoning this time.

\--------------

It was painful to watch. Really, for someone who had seen the sappiest of romances and not blinked over the most tragic love stories, this sight was certainly painful to watch. Tony had a good idea of hitting his head on some rock to just stop watching. Or hit one of the two supersoldiers playing out the scene. Or simply stop watching.

The last option wasn't going to happen. Not with a live Opera House moment so melodramatic and ballad-worthy happening right in front of him. Well, technically it wasn't in front of him, because he was watching it on his HUD, monitoring the feed from the carrier. Really, SHIELD was truly stupid if they thought placing cameras on dangerous helicarriers was a good idea. He didn't complain though, it was all working well right now. Maybe he just needed some popcorn as company or a bucket to throw up in. Whichever desire won first, depending on how this scene played out.

Tony hadn't even reached the carrier when Hill had informed that the chip had been replaced. Which meant that Tony didn't have to go play Terminator. But the helicarrier was floating right there and Tony was right here and Steve hadn't jumped out yet, which meant that the old buddies were either having an emotional reunion or a showdown.

Even without the helpful hints from the fast breaking helicarrier, thanks to one of the idiots inside who decided to blast it down, Tony could guess which option was coming true. He knew the truth. He knew that Steve would see Bucky Barnes behind the Winter Soldier. He also knew that the Winter Soldier would see his target or enemy or mission, whatever they called it, behind Steve Rogers. It was all a perfect recipe for Stockholm Syndrome. He knew that technically, he should have gone in, helped Rogers and kicked the assassin's ass. But he also could see that Rogers himself was not fighting back. Well, not actively, because pathetic defense did not count as engaging in Steve's standards. 

Tony didn't know if it was the mystery of the whole situation, the complexity of something he didn't want to poke with a pole or just the idea of knowing the possibility of a miracle - he just knew that he wasn't going to butt in till he was absolutely needed. 

Which is why he didn't step in or enter when the shield fell. He didn't blast the assassin when he began to pummel Rogers into the floor. He didn't rush to hold the helicarrier upright when it began to crumble.

It was like he was stuck in fascination and there was some niggling voice in the back of his head that told him to observe. Like an experiment. Bruce would have been very proud, Tony thought about his new found and terrifying patience.

When Steve fell through and crashed into the Potomac, Tony powered up his thrusters and was just seconds from pulling the man out of the river himself when he noticed it. The second figure falling. A black clad man. A metal arm pushing the waters and diving into it. He felt himself freeze. Barnes had jumped. He had jumped after Steve.

"JARVIS, did you record that?" he whispered to his HUD in morbid fascination as he watched, from behind a thicket, Barnes pushing up with a blue uniformed body in one hand.

"Yes, sir," the AI spoke up primly and continued, "Though I suggest that you take some action to check the well-being of Captain Rogers, sir. If I may."

Tony agreed to that, of course he did, but he knew that this was something big and that Rogers would survive the fall. He had survived an ocean crash, this would be nothing bigger. But getting a glimpse of Bucky Barnes behind a Hydra controlled Winter Soldier? That was something that could make or break many things. That could change the future, Tony thought grimly he saw Steve being placed on the shore. The Winter Soldier was walking away. He was going to leave now, probably go back to Hydra or get lost again. Somewhere in some unnamed place where he wouldn't be Bucky Barnes.

Tony knew that he was horrible at making snap decisions when it came to people. Which is why he didn't care about them anymore. It was anyway going to end in a disaster or a miracle, one of two extremities. It was always a risk. What could another one be in a pile of those?

As he revealed himself to the Winter Soldier and raised his hand, he thought distantly about how long Pepper would yell at him for this. How many rules Rhodey would have to break to handle this. How many people Tony would have to avoid to not be killed. But then he thought about the files from Zola. The metal arm. The fucking fall. The save.

When the flash blinded the surrounding for a minute, Tony wondered how much he would have to lose to do this.

What could possibly go wrong with his plan after all, he thought gleefully, even as the Winter Soldier dropped and he gave a command for a speed dial number.

"Hey Bruce?" he called out as soon as the call got picked, "Remember how you said you'd come back if I got you something worth working on? How does a metal-armed super-soldier sound? Because I'm kidnapping one right now."

Tony was thankful that the Hulk liked him because the string of curses coming from Bruce and the threats certainly sounded like Bruce didn't at the moment. He laughed at the panic filled questions that followed before cutting the call.

Sometimes he liked screwing things up. If it meant having a shot at changing the future.

Looking at the unconscious bodies of Steve and Bucky, he simply nodded to himself before calling in Sam to take Steve away. He had a kidnapping to do in the meanwhile. 

\-----------

When the Asset opened his eyes, he saw white. Blinking slowly, he looked again. It was a bright ceiling. High, light embedded ceiling. His next sensation was of the surface beneath his back. He wasn't sitting, he realized. He was horizontal. Lying down on something. It wasn't the rough, cement floor of the lab. Or the hard, cold floor of the cryochamber. It was softer. Like comfort.

"Ah, you're up," a voice called up and the Asset's eyes snapped up, turning his head to the left to see a man sitting on a chair, "Thought I'd almost killed you. That would have been horrible, I know, but I was just trying to knock you out and then maybe I lost control a little bit. Shouldn't matter, right? You don't mind, right? I mean, you should mind, I know Ro-that's what people would tell you to do. But, hey, I could probably even things out with some help? Do you accept bribes? Not the gizmo or chocolates kind, because they suck and I'm ranting, but hey, you're not dead. I mean, you're awake, so that's one thing. Aaand you don't understand a word I'm saying, right?"

The Asset stared at the man, registering his unfamiliar features. Black clothing, like himself, though the pant wasn't as tight as his own. Shorter, judging by the length of the legs. Wild hair, not unlike some of Asset's junior handlers. Strange facial hair too. But it was the eyes that caught the Asset's attention. They weren't staring him down or waiting for any submission. They were...dancing. Asset had seen feet move at the speed the eyes were moving, looking at Asset from head to toe with a small smile. 

"Who are you?" he asked the man, eyes looking for his handler, any of his superiors. Had he failed his mission? The Asset remembered in flashes about something happening. A resisted punch. A fall. A blue and red shield. A name. 

Had he failed?

"Right, sorry, introductions," the man said with a clap of his hands that made the Asset tense up before the man raise his hands in a peace gesture, "Sorry, sorry, just a little nervous energy. Hi, I'm Tony Stark. This is my Tower. And you're probably the only thing that's going to stop Cap from killing me, so I think we should call you my lifejacket right now. You know, if the plan fails."

"New handler?" the Asset questioned with a thorough once-over of the man.

Tony straightened up and thanked the powers that be for his preparation. He nodded before fishing into his pocket and retrieving a Hydra badge and patch. That was what he had found from the dump he had scoured for Zola's files.

"I don't have a mission," the Asset declared slowly, thinking that this new handler seemed to not understand that. 

"Oh, but you do," the man,  _Tony Stark_ , replied with a wider, more manic smile, "You have a new mission. Just finding and extraction, no killing. That's important, we need this mission alive."

The Asset frowned at that and eyed Tony suspiciously, which the man seemed to think as agreement. Slowly, the Asset nodded.

"The chair?" he asked in a quiet voice, looking at the surface he was sitting on and feeling weird in the softness.

"Right, no chair this time, sorry," Tony replied with a shrug before clearing his throat and looking the Asset straight in the eye, "You won't be on the chair again. We need you to understand this mission on your own. Got it? You need to find this man and bring him back. Understood? Alive."

The Asset nodded, straightening up and getting ready to absorb the information.

"The name of your mission is James Buchanan Barnes," Tony stated firmly with a calm voice, noting the slight clench of the metal hand, "Sergeant James Bucky Barnes. He has been missing for seventy years. You will get your information and details from the location you will be given. Soldier, this mission will be your last and you need to get it done without killing anyone. Those are the terms and those are your orders. Do you accept it?"

The Asset felt his heart beat faster at the name, something trying to claw at his brain at that, but when the handler repeated the question, he nodded. His last mission? That was strange. But the handler was staring at him and he had a mission. So he nodded.

And tried to forget a blond haired man staring at him. Tried to block out strange words.

 _Till the end of the line_.

He had a mission. He had to find this James Buchanan Barnes. That was all the Asset needed to remember.

Tony, on the other hand, tried to form the perfect words for his tombstone. Because if he messed this up, many people were going to be ready to kill him. Most of all a large, blonde, probably ignorant Captain America. 

Pepper should have just let Tony continue with his distractions. Without them, he always had the worst ideas.

\--------------------------

Steve knew something was off the minute he registered the Marvin song. He found it difficult to breathe for a minute before he tried again and felt it come easier. He blinked his eyes and looked straight. Stark white walls, sterile bed, an iPod streaming a song, a TV and there, to his right, Sam Wilson.

Always his right hand, he thought in amusement. 

"To your left," he croaked out and saw Sam turn to see him before a smirk spread on the man's face.

Steve remembered the last visual before he had fallen. He remembered the brief second of recognition. He remembered seeing Bucky underneath the Winter Soldier.

He closed his eyes and let the song wash over him. Sometimes cowardice gave you strength bravery didn't.

\-------------------

"What do you mean I might not like it?" Rhodey chewed out slowly, trying to breathe through his frustration. He hated the 3 a.m. calls. He hated seeing The Starkster flash on his phone when the time was anywhere after 1 a.m. Between 1 and 4 were Rhodey hours. Only Rhodey and his bed. No Tony. No Iron Man. No War Machine. Just Rhodey and his bed.

When that got disturbed it usually meant a long headache for Rhodey. It also meant that Tony had done something the genius thought brilliant but was, in fact, ridiculous enough to jeopardize Tony himself, SI, Rhodey, the military, the government and possibly the world. It was possible, it had almost happened before.

"Now, don't get mad," Tony's voice came through and Rhodey bit down another curse at the worst reassurance, "but this was important and Cap was knocked out, so obviously I had to do something -"

"Wait, Cap? This involves Captain America?" Rhodey sat up straighter on his bed and blinked, "Tony, I want you to talk in short, simple words and put those words together in a single sentence to tell me the problem. Now. Before I fly up to the Tower and whop your ass."

"I kidnapped the Winter Soldier, who is James Bucky Barnes and haven't told Cap or anyone about it, except for Bruce who is not coming out of his Hulk chamber," Tony paused, probably thinking about that, "And I might have pretended to be Hydra to give Barnes a mission about himself. Oh, I also brought down SHIELD. No biggie."

Rhodey knew, even in MIT, that Tony was going to be a part of his death. He didn't know how, he didn't know how much, he just knew that Tony's hand would be in his death plans. Maybe suicide or maybe a horrible experiment gone wrong. But it would be in Tony Stark stamped methods.

He had just hoped that he wouldn't have to die before he had retired. Or been court-marshalled. Or killed in action.

With the current information maybe he would have to take up one of those options. The third one sounded pretty good right now.

"Tony..."

"Rhodey bear..."

"I want you to wear the suit," Rhodey said calmly, "Get inside the fucking suit and be ready. Because I'm going to whop your ass. To death."

He calmly switched off his phone and stared into the darkness of his room for a minute. And then he proceeded to eloquently curse the entire Stark lineage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that happened. Steve will find out and things will get a bit serious in the coming chapters. I honestly hadn't planned this direction. It just came out and I couldn't stop the wreck. Sorry. Feedback please? <3


	6. Chapter 6

Rhodey didn't know what he was looking for when he entered the exhibit. He had a good mind to turn around, ignore his instincts and drop Tony off in an asylum on his way back to the base. It wouldn't be the most appropriate course of action though because Rhodey was a kind person beneath all his medals and he really wouldn't want the medical staff of the asylum to commit suicide after handling Tony. That would be cruel, he thought casually as he pulled his dark olive bomber jacket a little tighter and straightened his sunglasses. He knew that people wouldn't identify him all that well, maybe not even at all, but he didn't want to leave any chances if he could. Maybe in the future when he was sure this whole plan would blow up in the faces, he could claim to have not been a part of it. 

He cursed under his breath and ignored a woman who gasped at his whispered obscenity. She wasn't trailing a crazy assassin in a frickin exhibit about his seven decade younger self. If Rhodey wanted to curse, he would goddamn curse.

He thought back to the conversation/half-battle he had gone through with his soon to be ex best friend the previous night. He couldn't believe that he had actually understood half of the gibberish Tony had spouted.

_"You crazy sonovabitch!" Rhodey blasted as soon as he finished hearing Tony's half-assed explanation for the 6'2" expression-less machine-man sleeping a floor below them, "Do you have **any** idea how suicidal this whole thing is?! I'm gonna take that guy away RIGHT NOW and then you're gonna delete every evidence of his ever coming here, you got that? This is NOT happening, Tony. No fucking way."_

_"This is happening, Rhodey," Tony countered with a fond grin that made Rhodey's jaw tick further, "This is the only way we can make things right. And even if you **take** him, because sure he'll go with you like an obedient school kid right, where exactly do you propose to hand him over? SHIELD's gone, I have a pretty little list of remarkably two-faced pricks in ALL departments of the government, the Air Force is certainly not going to help an assassin and you can totally forget about getting him help from the UN. The whole seven decades of being an assassin and all isn't exactly a good resume."_

_"I don't care!" Rhodey grit out, pointing at Tony furiously, "I really really don't care about any of that. You **just** got out of a shitstorm that is almost bringing the military to its knees and is costing us the trust of the public. Now you want to be involved in aiding a Hydra soldier? What the hell is the matter with you?!"_

_"He isn't a Hydra soldier, Rhodey!" Tony shot back seriously, running a hand through his hair, "The guy is broken, manipulated and controlled, yes. But he isn't Hydra. He could have easily killed Rogers, have you seen his arm? I am dying, actually dying, to have a look at it myself. The whole linking to his nervous system and the plating is absolutely -"_

_Rhodey growled lowly in warning and Tony cleared his throat before waving off a hand._

_"Yeah, okay, but look at the situation here, Rhodey-bear," Tony shifted gears and spread out his hands in a sweeping gesture, "This is James Bucky Barnes. THE Bucky Barnes. The guy has freaking comics and movies made in his name. People have sobbed and blubbered about his friendship with Captain America. Not to mention, he isn't under Hydra anymore. If we let him go or hand him over to someone else, there is a 80% chance of the fashion-less psychos to get their hands on him again. And then what? He'll be back to hunting down people, definitely more Americans. I'm pretty sure that I'm on the target list and if I'm gone, Pepper and you are gonna be on it too. It's a domino effect we're stopping here Rhodey. For once, we're doing something that's not going to kill someone but maybe save some lives."_

_"You not we," Rhodey retorted, though his voice was losing its conviction and his brows scrunched in a frown instead of a tensed glare, "And this isn't your responsibility, Tones. Why don't you just call Rogers and be done with it? The old pals can go around skipping through the meadows themselves."_

_Tony snorted and shook his head at the image. "Yeah, please scar me with the image of both of them skipping away with pigtails and candy," he quipped sarcastically before kicking back and leaning on his chair, "Rogers is going to smother him and scare him away. I can feel that in my bones and you know it too. It'll be way too difficult for the guy to be objective. He didn't fight back, Rhodey. The entire time Barnes pummeled him, Rogers didn't fight back. Now, I'm an asshole about self-preservation but even I know that letting yourself get pummeled into death isn't sane. It'll be a complete and utter disaster. This is right, this is the only way to go. Also, please don't tell me you aren't the **least** bit curious about meeting Sergeant James Barnes. The amount of posters and minted cards you have of the guy should seriously send the exhibit guys into a jealous rage." Tony teased with a cocky wink. _

_Rhodey didn't rise to the bait and simply cocked an eyebrow._

_"Nice try, but your ridiculous collection of Captain America memorabilia is close to being a museum in itself," he quipped with a snort and saw Tony bristle before scowling, "And do we even know that he is James Barnes? Seventy years is a long time, Tony. People change, and if fucked with by Hydra, multiply the change by about 100%. Do we even know who he is right now? Underneath the metal-arm and the cold face?"_

_Tony didn't answer it immediately and Rhodey saw him look at his hands intently for a minute before looking up at Rhodey._

_"Seventy years back, this guy fell off a train trying to save his best friend," he said quietly, uncharacteristically serious in demeanor, "For seventy years, he's been living bits and parts of life, not remembering himself or his existence. I know that it doesn't absolve him from what he has become, Rhodey. I get that. But it doesn't change the fact that he didn't get a chance to take back his life. I got kidnapped for three months and you guys told me that I had changed a lot. He's been held hostage for decades, Rhodey. And he still recognized Rogers enough to pull him out of a river. I don't know who he is anymore. But I think if we give him this chance, he might be able to show us and maybe know himself too."_

_Rhodey remained silent for a while, holding Tony's gaze like he always did. It was a thing with them, talking without words. Whenevr the issue was serious and Rhodey wanted assurance of Tony being sure about something, he didn't speak. It had all started with Tony's 21st birthday when he had decided to get away from his toxic relationship with Sunset Bain. Rhodey had simply looked at Tony for a complete minute, checking the sincerity in his eyes, before walking down with him and waiting by the door till Tony came out wearing a fake grin and weary eyes._

_They had been through everything under the sun, Rhodey and Tony. Bullying, stereotypical profiling, family issues, broken hearts, crazy work situations, sky high ambitions and death defying adventures. It had always been a Rhodey-Tony show. Even when one of them didn't agree with the other, even if they had to kick each other's asses, even if they yelled and snarked and sighed about each other's weak points. It had always been the two of them against everybody._

_And now Tony had gone and let his stupid instincts and sudden idealism take over. In a small corner of his heart, the one that wasn't actively pumping blood at a faster rate than it should, Rhodey was happy that Tony had taken an initiative to change things. It made him proud of his best friend. But it was a war between that one part and his brain._

_It wasn't a choice in the end though._

_"How're you gonna keep an eye on him though?" Rhodey grunted, completely ignoring the flash of a smug grin, "You can't simply let him loose in the city. You need someone, not just an AI, to make sure things are alright. Someone who is capable enough to take on him if necessary, so that means someone who knows his condition and can still remain objective. Combat skills is a must. Get a military background too is possible, just to level the playing field when necessary. You need an ally following him, Tony. A monitor or something."_

_"I agree" Tony replied with a smirk and Rhodey frowned slightly._

_"Well, then who is it?" he asked with a confused look._

_When Tony smiled a unholy all-teeth grin, Rhodey had no qualms about using the taser. The shrill shriek made things a tad bit better in his dark and violent thought._

He was a busy man. Rhodey kept reminding himself that even as he spotted the red Henley and baseball cap clad figure standing in front of the James Barnes exhibit. It was a mantra he chanted every time he put things off to help Tony. It didn't help much. But Rhodey could also very well not leave Barnes here, out in the open, without keeping a close eye on him. He wasn't spying. He was monitoring. 

When Barnes turned slightly, like he had heard Rhodes, the shorter man casually walked forward, mingling with a group of tourists. He saw the long haired man turn around and idly look through the group, not focusing on anyone in particular, till he seemed to have scanned every face. He must have been satisfied with something because he went back to gazing at his own display, reading through the information written and letting his eyes trace his own younger face. 

Rhodey didn't know how that would feel. Seeing yourself but not recognizing it. Reading your name but not knowing what it meant. Being a stranger to yourself. It was one of those depressing thoughts he knew would land him in a psychiatrist's office.

So he didn't linger on it and let himself simply observe the man taking in a life he had once lived. He watched Barnes cock his head at the dramatic Howling Commandos images. He saw the man touch the glass of Captain America's pre-serum exhibit. He saw him frown at Peggy Carter's video. He saw him walk away from the 'showgirl' phase of Captain America. But nothing prepared him for the reaction he saw when Bucky Barnes stopped in front of Howard Stark's piece, mentioned in the serum process.

Barnes growled. He actually growled and clenched his metal hand. Rhodey quickly noted a couple of kids near the man and took a decision without thinking much. He strode forward and casually stood beside Barnes, effectively shielding the kids from him if things got bad.

"Mission" 

The word made Rhodey's skin prickle but he slowly turned his head to see Barnes still staring at Howard's face, his own face looking pinched. He had no clue how it was possible but it looked like Barnes was remembering something. And it must have not been something good because he was fighting off an expression that looked a cross of constipated and horrified. In that one flash of a moment, Rhodey wished he could read the guy better. Even if just to know why Howard had garnered this reaction. But he couldn't and he let it be.

"Friend" he said himself, resolutely looking at the picture himself, taking a high gamble risk. Maybe it was his good day or maybe Barnes didn't consider him a threat, because the guy didn't react and continued staring. After a few minutes, Rhodey saw him shift and thought he was about to walk away when he felt rather than saw Barnes turn towards him and stare.

Rhodey didn't react for an entire minute, keeping his eyes glued to the exhibit and finally, casually looked over and raised an eyebrow at the unblinking grey stare. He didn't remove his sunglasses and simply stared back at Barnes. The ex-sergeant kept his gaze trained for an entire minute before snapping away and walking off calmly. Leaving Rhodey confused by the whole exchange.

He felt rattled a bit and decided to cut short the monitoring for the day. Trailing after Bucky Barnes was more nerve-racking and strange than he thought.

If he remembered the steel and unblinking gaze for a few more hours, he pushed it down as an adrenaline spike. And another reason to kick Tony's ass at the earliest.

 

\----------------------------

Sam Wilson simply sat as he watched cut someone short on the phone, his commanding voice getting clipped and tight. It had been the third day since their little 'mission' had begun. They were currently stuck in Manhattan, where Natasha seemed to have last found Bucky's trace. Sam didn't know how Natasha had her sources despite having leaked all her secrets to the world. She had no security, no fall-back now. But the ex-spy had simply smiled at Sam when he had asked her and told him that she could learn faster than unlearn.

Sam thought that she was just way too good at covering her tracks and her fears. He didn't tell her that though. He still had his self-preservation skills intact.

He also thought that Steve was undoubtedly the best example of an unlucky guy with the luckiest life. It was a conundrum of extremes. But so was Steve, which even things out. Finding Bucky and them losing him out had been hard on Steve, Sam could see that. But he could also see that Captain America had become who he was based on his dogged determination and will-power. It was an enviable mixture of virtues. 

"The trace ends with Manhattan," Steve spoke up, flipping his phone shut and turning to face Sam, a slight frown in place, "We're trying to triangulate the exact location of his last visit but our search ends with a traffic before Tompkins Park. No identification of where he went from there. This doesn't make sense, Sam. If we get a reading on him once, we should be able to get a reading on his destination too. He couldn't have disappeared into thin air."

"He's been a spy and assassin for years now, Steve," Sam reasoned calmly, having a look at the data Steve had gotten, "He knows to cover his tracks well. Maybe he wiped the data off?"

Steve nodded mutely, going over the grained pictures, feeling a strange prickling between his shoulder blades. An instinct that screamed that something was off.

"Maybe," he concurred slowly, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes for a moment, "So now we know that he came to Manhattan and went to a park. That's...good, right?"

Sam gave him a look that clearly said that he didn't know anything more than Steve. The Captain sighed and shook his head before sitting down across Sam.

"Something's off, Sam, I can feel it," Steve said softly, thumbing through the few papers strewn over the rackety table, "It just doesn't add up all that well. Why would he come to Manhattan of all the places? It's nowhere connected to the hotspots we've listed of Hydra bases or any place he might want to go if he remembered things. How does Manhattan fit the picture?"

"Maybe he came to meet someone?" Sam suggested, letting his mind run to different possibilities, "Maybe one of his ex-handlers lives here?"

"That would make sense," Steve agreed doubtfully and slowly, eyes frowning in concentration.

"Or..." Sam continued, looking at Steve's eyes snap up and stare at him, "Or maybe he has a mission here?"

And wasn't that a complicated possibility? To think that a man they were trying to save was trying to kill someone else. To think that maybe Bucky Barnes was still Winter Soldier, despite the unexpected action of him saving Steve's life. It was a demoralizing by logical point. 

Steve stared at Sam, knowing that he could be right. Hell, he might be bang on the buck. Steve could deny the thought and try to push down the idea of Bucky being lost to the Winter Soldier but Sam kept gently reminding him that he couldn't afford to lose rationale to emotions.

It was annoying at first, dampening even, but in the end it was more grounding than anything else he could have tried. Steve was finding it easier to discuss all possibilities when he knew that Sam wouldn't humor him just for the sake of things. It was the calm logic and confident planning that had kept Steve stable in their search till now.

But instinct was a thing Steve had relied on since childhood. It was a habit, a friend. It wasn't easy to ignore. The whole Manhattan business sounded off. Like there was some missing link. Something that would make more sense than any of their available options.

"We could do with some better tech right now," Sam bemoaned softly, looking at their laptop wistfully, "Things would go so much faster with a better technical support. Now with Natasha going loose, we'll have to scrape harder."

Steve was going to agree when he stilled. It was one of those light bulb moments and he saw Sam frown at him in concern. Of course, he thought gleefully, better tech! They needed support and they had the  **best** tech support of the country right here,in the city. Steve almost laughed at his own stupidity before shooting Sam a grin. 

"Sam, you're a genius," he said with an open grin that made the other man's eyebrows raise, "Well, not as much of a genius as the man we're going to meet maybe. We should have contacted him long back. I'm sure he can help us out with this bit."

Sam's face cleared when he realized what Steve was hinting at.

"We clearly need to plan better," he replied with a shake of his head and a small smile. Of course, they should have gotten help from the one man who could help them out better than anybody.

"I've not talked to him after the whole incident as well," Steve mused a tad guiltily, "With all the surprises and explosive news, I put him on the back-seat. I should check up on him too. He  **was** there with us and for us when we needed him. It was pretty selfish and ignorant of me to not do this earlier." Steve looked concerned and chastised which made Sam nod with a soft smile.

"Yeah, we should have," he agreed before shrugging, "But better late than never. He kind of took off after the whole issue. Maybe he was busy or something."

Steve gave a small smile at that, remembering the endless times Tony had loftily told him that he was always busy. It was one of the perils of being Tony Stark.

"He's busy even when he shouldn't be," Steve shook his head a bit fondly before his face sobered up, "And he  **had** gone through the worst of times recently. God, I didn't even think to ask him about that when he came to DC. Natasha told me about Pepper and his arc reactor. I really have been terribly obtuse, I guess."

"Don't make it about yourself now," Sam chided gently with an eye-roll, "You could always talk to him now and sort things out. He seems like a cool guy."

"He is," Steve chuckled lightly, "We got off on a horrible foot but he isn't all that bad when it comes to the important things. Not the easiest person to understand for me, but maybe that's just a difference in our ways and thoughts. Sure, we don't see eye-to-eye about many things and our conversations usually end with challenges to knock out, but yeah, he's good at what he does. And an important part of the Avengers."

"You sound like his probable father-in-law," Sam teased and got a snort in response, "Just saying 'he's a good guy' or 'a good friend' isn't going to work with you two, huh? Well, let's go remedy that. How soon can we catch an appointment to meet the genius himself?"

Steve whipped out his phone and considered for a minute before remembering an old invitation from Tony about coming in to the Tower any time. It  **was** the Avengers Tower now, wasn't it? And Steve had long put off the invitation with a tad too formal courtesy. Maybe Sam was right. Maybe he just needed to loosen up and try to consider Tony as a friend. Be casual with the man. Let his guards down enough.

Steve knew that he had been prejudiced about Tony. He was honest enough to admit that to himself. It had started even before they had held their first conversation. Stereotypes were a dangerous practice, Steve had discovered after the damage had been done. He hadn't held back in his punches and neither had Tony, though the latter had seemed a bit bewildered by Steve's animosity at first. Steve hadn't taken effort to correct that mistake, thinking that if they moved forward and pushed it under the carpet, maybe they wouldn't have to make things awkward. 

But it seemed that the idea hadn't worked as flawlessly as he had expected. Steve had met his match in stubbornness and a challenger of his thoughts in Tony. It grated on his nerves at times, when Tony disobeyed his orders while on the field. But he also understood that sometimes Tony's suit and tech analysed certain things better and faster than Steve gave credit for. It was a painful admission for some reason, and Steve didn't know why he failed to smooth things over. 

It was like a meeting of a spark and gasoline whenever Steve and Tony had talked till now. Maybe it was time to dial things down and redo their relationship.

"I think it's time we met him," Steve agreed with a small grin, "And maybe high time to accept his invitation too. Sam, I'd like you to come with me to see the Avengers Tower. Tony has been badgering me to drop in for a long time. Let's surprise him today."

Sam was a bit unsure of the surprise part but seeing Steve's confidence he shrugged and agreed.

It might be the start of something new and they might finally get a clue about this haywire search of theirs for Bucky.

\---------------------------------

 

Pepper had long learnt to expect the unexpected with Tony. She had understood, through misunderstandings and revelations, that he wasn't always the man he posed as. In the beginning, she had presumed to label him in her 'billionaire, playboy, genius and philanthropist' box. There had been an incident too, in her first year as his PA, where she had described him in similar words in a bout of controlled sarcasm. It had taken more than a decade of understanding for her to unlearn the stereotype and see beyond the image the man wore. Tony wasn't perfect, she knew that quite well, but he was also one of the few men she trusted her life with.

Of course, trusting him with her heart had been a different matter altogether. But she still had the shrapnel from his heart and the patched up stability of their friendship in her life. And that was enough for her to march into his house and life to kick his ass when he did something stupid.

"You're an idiot and I'm calling Coulson right away," she declared as she whipped out her StarkPhone furiously, tired from arguing with Tony over something blatantly wrong.

"JARVIS, mute the phone," Tony ordered casually before raising a hand in peace offering at the cold glare he got from the CEO of SI, "Pep, Pepper, please, listen. I get that you're mad and that this might be on the top 10 crazy things you've heard from me, well, technically, you heard from Rhodey, which is just unfair don't you think? He's my best friend and he went behind my back to rat on you. That's just-"

"Shut up," Pepper whispered darkly, shooting a glare at Tony before taking a deep breath, "Just shut up, Tony. This is the  **worst** idea you have  **ever** had and that includes flying into a space portal."

"Which saved the entire city, if you recall," Tony cut in with a clearing of his throat but Pepper just ploughed on.

"You're not just going to get killed yourself, you're going to get the entire company destroyed too," the fiery redhead blazed, "We're going to lose everything just because you decided to play godmother to a Hydra assassin."

"A world war veteran, and godfather is more gender appropriate isn't it?" the genius corrected with a hopeful smile that only made Pepper's eyebrow twitch. Tony sighed and ran a tired hand through his hair, "Pep, believe it or not, I'm not doing this to harm anyone. There's no thrill seeking here, well, maybe except for a chance at knowing the science behind that damn arm. But in all honesty, Pep, this is the right thing. You  _know_ his story by now. You know all the risks that I'm cutting off by doing this. This is the best chance scenario, Pep, and I'm taking it. Have a little trust in me."

Pepper took a shaky breath and let her shoulders drop a little. It had been a horrifying moment for her when Rhodey had slipped up and told her a bit about some guy staying at the Tower. Of course, Rhodey being the loyal friend that he was, didn't let up on elaborating. Pepper was proud of him for that. She knew that she wouldn't have betrayed Tony either. But this? Housing an assassin with brain-washing? Hydra? That was too much for her stress levels.

"I trust you, you idiot," Pepper spoke up after a while, holding Tony's gaze with her own hard stare, "But I don't trust him. He's been brain-washed Tony. Manipulated. Broken and put together countless times. He isn't himself. And you aren't a therapist who can help him."

When Tony's eyes lit up with a manic glint at that, she groaned lightly and rubbed her forehead.

"No, don't. Just, don't," she held up a hand before he could say something, "The less I know now, the better for your safety."

"You won't tattle," Tony assured her magnanimously and Pepper sent him a withering glare before chuckling despite herself.

"I meant safety from myself, Tony," she clarified with a raised eyebrow at his understanding face, "I am inches away from throwing things at you, giving you a concussion, locking you up in your room and getting you a bodyguard. Don't tempt me."

"You're a devious, devious angel and I love you," Tony said with a cheeky grin, pretending to ignore Pepper's slight freeze at the 'love' part. He knew that they were over but he did really love her. Even if just as a friend and as someone who had very few of those. 

"Yeah, well don't hold your breath," she sassed him back breezily and Tony put on a mock-wounded expression that Pepper wisely ignored. He did take her point on a therapist seriously though, mind already racing on the pros and cons of getting one who was trust-worthy.

"How'd you get Rhodey to agree to babysitting though?" Pepper asked after a few minutes of conversation, "I thought he would have dragged you away from Barnes by your hair before he agreed."

"He almost did, but he later bowed down to my genius," Tony sniffed airily and Pepper threw a nearby apple at him that he caught smoothly, "Seriously though, I think it's because he wants to give this a chance himself. The alternate options are scarier and liable to more damage than this one."

"But still, Rhodey." Pepper mused with a thoughtful expression and Tony snorted.

"He's a sucker for military, Pep," the genius waved his hand vaguely, "And Sergeant James Barnes was probably a bigger hero for him than Cap, what with all the sacrifice and K.I.A thing. Rhodey-bear  **does** have a heart you know, under all that macho man persona?"

"He's friends with you, of course he has to have a heart," Pepper rolled her eyes and added when Tony's expression turned smug, "Anybody who had the strength to get through your years at MIT needed the strongest heart. To survive all those attacks and strokes you must have caused, you know."

Tony simply made a face and winked.

Of course, the moment was ruined with guests he desperately didn't want there in that moment.

"Sir, Captain Rogers and Mr. Sam Wilson are boarding the elevator to see you," JARVIS announced calmly and Tony felt his world come to a stand-still.

"J, tell them I'm not here," he replied quickly, darting an eye at Pepper whose face had tightened at that.

"That trick never works, Tony," she reminded him and raised her palm to calm him when he was about to start off a rant, "You can't hide this forever. Or hide from him forever yourself. If you don't meet him now, things are going to get suspicious for him."

"If he finds out, Pep.." Tony trailed, looking at his phone with a frown.

"Then we'll handle it when he does," Pepper decided for him, taking charge and straightening up, "But we have to give things a chance. I don't approve of it but I'm not going to tattle on you, as you said before. There is a considerable chance that he's here to just talk something else. We won't know if we don't see. You have to take this risk, Tony."

Tony most certainly did not want to take this risk. But he weighed in Pepper's words and let out a frustrated growl. She was right. If he acted shifty now, Steve would catch on and then things would end badly. He had to entertain the man right now. If things were bad already, he would do nothing to stop them and would have to face them anyway.

"Alright, J," he commanded with a practiced ease, "let him in. Let's have a rendezvous."

Tony just hoped that Bucky Barnes was worth all this trouble and that Steve Rogers didn't become the death of him.

It wouldn't sit well on his tombstone, he thought hysterically as the elevator doors opened and he saw a tall Steve Rogers and a slightly shorter Sam Wilson come into view.

Let the games begin, he whispered internally as he flashed his most casual smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any and all feedback will be loved. Please read and review? <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to rope in all the characters and bring them to the same spot. I hope you guys like it :D

Natasha knew the difference between lying and omission of truth. It was a thin line to walk if you weren't careful and an addictive line if you walked it all the time. A wise spy would know to get off the rope and indulge in some honesty from time to time. It helped you keep your sanity. It helped keep the facts straight.

It helped in making friends. Natasha was terrified about that.

But she had made friends. Some of them loyal enough to make her rethink her policies. Clint had been the first of the bothering lot. Steve had been the cream of the crop.

The Russian hadn't thought that her opinion of Captain America could get any higher when she had seen him in action for the first time. But knowing  _Steve Rogers_ , the guy who had been chosen to take on the shield, that had been a new experience. It was annoying at points, seeing the man try to analyse the world in black and white. Natasha Romanoff knew that nothing was completely right or wrong and that truth was a mere matter of circumstances. But Steve didn't take her word for it. He had gone about discovering the world for himself, trying to find his place in the madness, trying to hold on to his ideals of freedom, justice and dignity. It was ridiculous yet righteous and Natasha began to feel protective about the man lost in time behind the leader of the Avengers. She had taken up the role of his quiet protector, guide and a pseudo-family. Which was why she had brought out the KGB files on James Barnes.

Which was why she was seething at Tony for being an idiot.

"Глупые мужчины и их эго" she muttered under her breath as she wiped another data onto her own phone, slipping through the next database with practiced ease, "When will you stop playing hooky, Tony?" She was frustrated with the continued habit of picking up after her team. It wasn't her job. It wasn't even supposed to be a job. But here she was, supposed to be laying low and creating her own cover, tracking irregularities in Tony Stark's patterns.

It had all started when Natasha had gotten suspicious about Tony's sudden withdrawal after the shutdown of SHIELD. He hadn't come to gloat about his genius, hadn't been there to see-off Nick, hadn't done anything that was pure Tony. He had gone quiet and shifty, like the days he had been through during the whole palladium poisoning. It triggered an alarm in Natasha's head when Sam had told her that they had last found Bucky's trace in Manhattan. There were two possibilities in her head: 1. Barnes was going to target Tony and the idiot had an inkling about that or 2. Tony had something to do with Barnes' trace disappearing after Manhattan.

It had taken her only an hour of digging through Tony's activities of the past few days to come to a conclusion. It hadn't helped when she had traced a visit from Rhodey to the Stark Tower that followed Rhodey taking official leave and rushing to DC. James Rhodes didn't take leave until there was a situation that bordered on calamity. A quick intel from Maria, who had joined SI after SHIELD's flush-out, clued her in on an extremely violent conversation between Pepper and Rhodey which seemed to involve Bucky's name. 

Natasha had long learnt to put two and two together. She knew that Tony was hiding something about Bucky. She just needed to find out what and why. 

She also needed to make sure that Steve wouldn't strangle the billionaire. Sighing to herself, Natasha flicked through the data she had and clicked a secure line to leave a message. Maybe it was too soon to search for a cover yet.

She still had one last mission to complete in Manhattan now.

\-------------------------------

Clint blinked at the message he received one more time. It was still there, glaring and taunting him, like some sort of shock pole. It shouldn't have made sense at all. It  _didn't_ make sense at all. But it was still there and Clint had double checked the sender.

It was still Nick Fury's number. And the message still said what it did.

"Well, fuck," he said eloquently into space and felt the woman beside him shift a little, making a low groan before settling back into soundless slumber. Clint hated it when he had to sneak out at night, under the cloak of darkness. He would rather bid good bye and kiss his wife before he left, like he supposed normal people did. But Clint wasn't normal and the world still didn't know about his wife. Which meant that he had to use what he had and get his mind on track. 

Saying goodbye was easy. Laura had developed a system for it. They never woke the kids, so the time spent on it was less and he had lesser guilt about leaving. He didn't pack anything other than his weapons, so there was no sentimentality involved at the last minute. There were no promises of coming back or staying safe, which meant that Clint didn't have to lie. it was a compromise, a subtle one but a lifeline he survived on. He did get a goodbye kiss though, well within the protection of their home. it was wordless and the archer was glad for it. He grabbed his phone and walked out of the house, getting into the car he kept ready at all times.

As Clint met Natasha at their meet-point, he simply raised his eyebrows in question, trying to confirm if it was really true. Natasha, to her credit, mutely nodded before getting into the small jet.

"This is going to be bad," Clint informed her casually as he took a seat opposite to her, leaning back into the rough cover.

"It could have been worse," she replied, cocking her head at his raised eyebrow, "He could have gone back to Hydra."

Clint looked at her for a moment before sighing and letting his eyes close. He was not paid enough for all the theatrics of his team.

As he heard the jet fly across the sky, he wondered how his life had gotten dragged into the freak show and let the annoying message run through his mind again.

_Winter Soldier under Stark's protection. All protocols breached. Threat imminent. Avengers regroup asap._

 

"I'm going to kill Stark," he mumbled softly, only half joking.

"You might be too late to try," he heard Natasha's quiet reply, completely serious.

\----------------------

Tony knew instinctively that lying to Steve was probably the worst idea of the century. With Steve's track record of people betraying him, it wasn't going to sit well in the future. Or in the present. At all. So, in this situation, with Steve in the Tower, and Pepper having warned him about keeping secrets, he should have gone with the cliched _honesty is the best policy_ formula. He was going to, he really was. He had even been ready to call Mark 52 when Steve would attempt to hit him after it all. It would have been fine. It would have been the right thing to do.

And then Steve had gone out and done the inexplicable. The unforgivable, really. It was torture at its finest. It was going to kill Tony with its potent.

Steve had apologized. The whole nine yards of it, right from the first stretch of admitting that he had misjudged Tony right from the start to the final bit of how he would like to start over and try to become friends. Tony could hear the abort screech run through his head and knew that if he looked at Pepper, she would get all wide eyed and purple faced with holding her breath. Sam was staring at Pepper beyond Tony's shoulder, a slight frown on his face. But he had not been too willing to spare the other man a glance beyond the perfunctory because something bigger had been happening. Steve Rogers. Apologizing. Without making up excuses. Smiling that small smile he only offered Natasha or Sam or Clint or anybody except Tony, other than that one time Tony had come back from the dead. Steve was offering a hand, literally, and looking at him with expectant eyes.

Annoying Captain America. Captain Sassypants. Capsicle. The All-American Meat Mountain. Parkour Prophet. Spangles. Hydra's Fiercest Rival. The Man With A Plan. The perfect soldier.

Even as he listed out all the things this man was to Tony, he knew that the one offering him a hand of friendship wasn't Captain America. It was Steve Rogers.

Ridiculous Steve Rogers. 'I understood that reference' Steve Rogers. The little shit. Sneaky Poker Face. Brooklyn kid. Yankees hater. The good man. 

Nobody ever claimed that Tony was a regular person. Nobody ever believed that he made sane decisions in his personal life. There was no need to break that reputation, right? Right.

So of course, Tony had chucked honesty out the window and grasped the hand with a smirk on his face, a sassy comment on his tongue and a wink at the guy who had  **finally** taken the first step to becoming Tony's friend. Pepper had coughed pointedly, he had heard it, but Pepper hadn't had to fight for a modicum of civil conversation with Steve ever since they had met. If Tony was getting a chance at trying that, he hadn't been ready to throw it away with a stupid confession of kidnapping James Barnes. 

Which is why, when Steve had smiled back, he hadn't felt a single twinge of guilt. When he had offered to 'track' Barnes and had intentionally misled Sam and Steve, he hadn't felt like a lying piece of shit. When he had offered them to stay back in the Tower and move in, he hadn't felt like a manipulative bastard.

That had been a week ago. That had been before he got the call from Rhodey. It had been before The Incident.

"You're doing the Dagger," he heard a voice, Steve's voice, and blinked into the coffee mug before taking another sip. Steve came up from behind him and snagged a fruit off the table before smoothly sliding into a chair near Tony. 

"I don't  _do_ the  _Dagger_ , Steven, stop dramatizing things," Tony huffed into his coffee, resolutely not looking at Steve because yes, he was doing the Dagger.

"Thee wound me, Anthony," Steve replied in a deadpanned voice as he pulled the sugar bowl away from Tony casually, "And your Dagger is patent-worthy. You should consider it for a missile code. Very lethal. Except on your coffee mug, because you know, even you don't have a sentient coffee mug. Pretty pointless glaring at it."

Tony squinted up at the guy who had clearly come back from his morning run, which was probably a mini-marathon in itself. He was always cheery and chatty in the mornings. Tony wanted to shove a bitter gourd down his throat. Or add broccoli to his breakfast. Whatever made him feel even a twinge of bitterness Tony felt towards mornings in general.

"Where's you extended body of limbs?" he asked grouchily, noting an absence of a sweating and cursing Sam, "Did you kill him with exhaustion finally? Told him not to trust you in the mornings. You reek of  _enthusiasm_. Infect my pure, dark, air of coffee aroma and brooding with your happy germs. Did you finally kill your slower version with your pretext of a Guinness Record running time?"

"We don't talk about killing and death before breakfast, Tony," Steve tutted mockingly, making Tony throw him another Dagger that didn't effect him in the least, "It ruins the taste of waffles. Don't you remember the memo?"

The Memo had been a list of things Sam had declared when he had taken charge of the kitchen for breakfasts immediately after discovering Tony's sheer ineptitude with morning food. It had been a list of ridiculous demands and Steve had solemnly agreed to all of them, prompting Tony's chucking a phone at Sam's head. But Sam made waffles and pancakes and crepes and almost any breakfast food Tony liked. So the Memo hadn't been burned.

"You and your best friend are awful human beings after you spend time together, teeming in each other's sweat and terrorizing poor pigeons before the crack of dawn," Tony declared with an air of finality before his old thoughts came back and he cleared his throat a bit before casually continuing, "Speaking of best friends, any new clue about yours? The old one, I mean. The  _older_ one, I guess, is that the right term?"

Steve didn't tense up more than usual, which pulled out a smidge of Tony's tension but the genius watched Steve's face for anything else as the soldier spoke.

"Not really, no," Steve groused before sighing bitterly and putting the half bitten fruit down, "I don't know  _how_ he keeps evading us. His trace is jumping off the charts, bouncing around like a 'roo. Yesterday I got a report of a particularly violent and unusual incident in DC at a private clinic of a therapist, but I checked and it shows that it was some ex-soldier with PTSD. Trashed the entire building and is probably on a list for arrest somewhere. But it isn't Bucky. I feel pathetic saying this, but I almost wished it was him."

Tony had frozen, desperately willing his face to be impassive and his hands to move. He could  _hear_ the irritation in Steve's voice and his heart-beat was racing at God knows what but he kept quiet, knowing that Steve would continue speaking if he kept quiet.

"It's almost like he's deliberating misleading us. Like he's putting us off something," Steve chewed on, clearly missing the minute tick of Tony's hands, "All the readings are proving futile, the places we trace don't have him by the time we check in and it almost looks like he's going on a world tour, which doesn't make sense at all."

"Well, he's been closed off for seven decades, maybe he wants to get out and see the world," Tony suggested, keeping his voice casual and light, "You went on a road trip after the whole Chitauri mess, remember?"

Steve wasn't buying it completely but he did hum a non-committed response, idly picking at his fruit. Tony looked at him and remembered Rhodey's words from the previous night's call.

_"He deserves to know, Tony," Rhodey said firmly, eyes serious and bearing no compromise, "If you don't tell him now, we'll lose his trust. And that won't be healthy once Barnes is back to normal. Looking at today, that's gonna take longer, but when it does, we can't afford to get the team divided between your side and Steve's. Cap's not an idiot, Tony. He'll figure it out soon. Lies are only gonna get us in trouble later."_

 

"Do you think you can try something new?" Steve was asking and Tony blinked before frowning at him, trying to catch up on what he was saying, "With the tracking. I know that you've tried before too, but maybe we're missing something. Some derivative that's meddling with the whole equation? I don't know, Tony, I just have a feeling that we're not seeing something here. Do you think you could help with that?"

Tony would have laughed hysterically at the irony if he didn't have to look normal in the face of Steve's desperate expression.  **He** was the derivative missing. He was the meddler. He was messing with the traces. He wanted to throw Steve off till Bucky's recovery at DC could reach a point of better level. He had been regularly dropping off 'missions', simple instructions to gather information about 'James Barnes' from secret files, familiar places and old spots that still held the guy's memories. It had been working too, Tony knew that. Only two days back, the guy had apparently stopped calling himself 'the Asset' and had resorted to a normal 'I'. But then things had hit a roadblock when the psych Tony had hired had brought in a trigger, a fucking keychain of Captain America's shield model, and Bucky had been set off, rambling about a mission and his arm, before resorting to violence. Tony couldn't thank Rhodey enough for his timely intervention. It had taken a huge amount of compensation and a couple of NDAs for a few more nurses, to get the psych to agree to work again.

If he told Steve now and if Steve rushed to DC, things would come crashing down again. Tony was sure about that, as sure as he could be, with his own files on Zola proving enough that Bucky's mind had been ingrained with a mechanism to hurt when triggered by his past. Steve was the past. He was also Bucky's best friend and a very potent incentive for the brain-washed man to push through, but Tony was still not sure. The image of Steve taking Bucky's punches and falling down into the Potomac was still fresh in his head.

"Yeah, sure, I'll look into it today," Tony lied easily, noting Steve's satisfied nod and wondering how badly things would go when the truth came out. He was literally betraying Steve's trust. He knew that. But he also knew that he wasn't the model of honesty and that guilt would lie heavier if he let the Winter Soldier get back with Steve Rogers before Hydra was flushed out of his brain. That would be a sure shot disaster. Between two disasters, Tony preferred taking one that wouldn't blow up today.

He slipped off to the workshop after a few minutes, citing urgent work, and locked down the place before groaning into his hands. It was becoming a fast mess. But Tony had to keep up the pretenses, even if Pepper's warnings were increasing every day. Losing a tentative friend would be so much easier and better than inviting certain war if the Winter Soldier's presence was made public or if Steve's protective instincts made him whisk Barnes away to some unknown land.

He had almost convinced himself and was getting ready to begin work on a new set of lasers for the suit when his phone pinged. After he calmly read the message and placed his phone down, Tony patched a call through to a number he would never dial if not for death situations.

"Hey, Giggles?" he called out into the phone when the call was picked, "Remember the contract you signed when joining SI? It's time for your job now. We've got two agents coming in hot in about an hour. Get the Wonder Twins Protocol ready, will you?"

He knew that Maria Hill hated him and her situation right now, but if he was going to be murdered by the Black Widow and Hawkeye, the least he could do was get another ex-SHIELD agent on his side.

He was really getting disturbingly deep into the whole manipulation games, Tony thought distractedly as he cut the call and stared at his armor. He just hoped that the end result would be worth the utter mess his life was going to be by the time they got there.

\---------------------------------

Sam didn't know why people said that skill beat instincts. Instincts were what had kept him alive through the years. They were the reason he had been confident enough to join Captain America on a wild goose chase. They were the reason he had taken a chance at trusting a spy agency. They were the reason he had considered Tony Stark a better guy than his reputation let on.

They were also the reason he had stumbled upon the idiocy of the genius. In hindsight, it should have been clear from the start. From the moment he had gotten Tony's call about Steve's rescue from the Potomac. It should have been transparent.

But he had underestimated Tony Stark's deflection techniques. Apparently, so had Steve, though Sam didn't begrudge the man for that. Tony and him shared a far more complicated situation and camaraderie than Sam and Tony. Sam was objective enough. He was fairly fresh. He had seen through comparatively easier.

When they had received the report about the incident at DC regarding a therapist, Sam had felt warning bells go off in his head. The reports and scans showed a different guy, an ex-soldier. The heat signatures didn't match with Barnes. It was all squeaky clean.

That was what had made Sam feel unsettled. It was too clean. Too perfect. A perfect crime scene, if he had to be dramatic. Everything was clear and the clinic hadn't pressed charges. The level of destruction baffled Sam too. It wasn't something expected out of a normal soldier. Sam had experience with those. He knew the format and type of reactions possible. This? This was something higher. Some sort of super-reaction. The variables weren't matching. The counsellor part of Sam was constantly telling him that something was off.

Which was why he had taken the liberty of making some calls. Some casual, vague calls. The details about the incident were squeaky clean too, with the extremely few witnesses parroting the same things. It didn't sit right with Sam. So he had tried to gather some more intel, using JARVIS' help. 

Tony's AI was one of the finest and smartest part of technology Sam had seen in Stark's world. The British pseudo-butler was razor-sharp, erudite, terrifyingly competent and fiercely loyal to Tony. Sometimes loyalty was a double-edged sword.

Sam had a habit of asking people about their health casually every day. It was probably a routine or simply manners. But he had it and that extended to JARVIS too. He usually asked the AI about Tony's health too, whenever he couldn't find the genius around. That morning had been one of those cases.

JARVIS' pointed answer of "physically normal with no irregularities in his bodily functions" had made Sam frown. There seemed to be an emphasis, however slight, on the  **physical** part which had prompted Sam to ask about Tony's other factors. When he had learnt of Tony's constant communication being with only Rhodey, he had frowned minutely. Rhodey hadn't come into the Tower ever since Sam had been here. His instincts had flared up and he had continued on that line, asking about Rhodey's health. The information about Rhodey sustaining an injury in DC made Sam still. He had cautiously and carefully constructed his next questions, making sure that he wouldn't hit a snag with JARVIS' restrictions. A quick check with his old friend, Carol Danvers, had proved that Rhodey hadn't come in for work for the past two days. He hadn't been on a mission as well. But he had been hurt. In DC. On the day that an incident had almost brought down a therapy center.

His mind raced back to the Manhattan readings of Bucky's trace. It had stopped abruptly, he remembered. And then the trace had started again, strangely, as soon as they had moved to Stark Tower. Like Bucky had gotten some hint of where they were. Like somebody had turned on a switch. 

Or somebody had intentionally meddled with the traces.

Sam didn't understand it. It didn't make sense at all. But there was only one person apart from Steve and Sam, who knew where Bucky's traces were going. Only one person who could tamper with any tech. Only one person who had taken off after a strange call to Sam about Steve's rescue. Only one person who was the strong core, the main target, at Manhattan.

Sam didn't make sense of it at all. But he knew, in his gut, that there was something Tony Stark knew that he was hiding from them. And it didn't look like Sam was going to like it.

He didn't even notice that he had skipped breakfast till it was ten, but then decided to serve something different this morning. Probably only to Tony and not to Steve yet. Because if Sam's instincts were right, Tony Stark had done something that would probably endanger him from Steve Rogers. Sam was going to give the genius a chance to save his life and maybe help him out.

He just hoped that his instincts about Tony's willingness to be friends wasn't off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews, feedback =, any kind of comment - all will be loved and treasured! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Any kind of feedback will be loved <3 Please read and review? :D


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